Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

142. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will provide a timeline for the development of his Department's specific climate change targets; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49569/18]

Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Failure to address climate change will seriously affect all countries. Already, vulnerable people and communities in the least developed countries, in particular women and children, are struggling to cope with the consequences of erratic weather patterns. Additionally, an increasing number of severe weather events is putting response systems and communities under strain. Through Ireland’s official overseas assistance programme, Irish Aid, funding is provided for climate adaptation and mitigation activities, particularly in least developed countries. This funding consists of contributions to multilateral organisations, grants to NGOs, and programmes implemented through our Embassies.

In 2016, the Programme for Government committed Ireland to spending €175m in climate finance to 2020. We are well on track to meet that target. Irish climate finance expenditure is rigorously tracked, with annual reporting to the UN on how Ireland is meeting commitments under the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. In 2016, Ireland was voted by Adaptation Watch as the second most transparent donor in its reporting of climate finance.

In that year, almost €53m was spent on international climate action, rising to €64m in 2017. The vast majority of these funds were targeted at adaptation activities for the poorest people in Least Developed Countries. This finance was 100% in grant form. A similar outturn for Irish Aid climate expenditure in 2018 is anticipated.

A new policy on international development is currently being finalised, which will set out my Department’s ambitions for climate action in the years ahead, as the Irish Aid budget increases in line with the Government’s commitment - set out in the Global Ireland policy document launched earlier this year - to reach the UN target of 0.7% of GNI for official development assistance by 2030.