Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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731. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment his views on whether afforestation, the use of bog land carbon repositories and wind generated electricity can each contribute to carbon reduction with a view to improving the progress in line with international agreements; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8119/20]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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The Government's Climate Action Plan identifies how Ireland will achieve its 2030 targets by reducing carbon emissions by 35% and puts us on a trajectory which would be consistent with net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Afforestation, the use of bog land carbon repositories, and wind generated electricity can each contribute to carbon reduction.

Forestry provides verifiable removal and storage of CO2 from the atmosphere and will help in meeting our EU commitments over the period 2021 to 2030. The Climate Action Plan sets a target of an average of 8,000 hectares per annum of newly planted forest between 2021 to 2030.

Bogs also play a vital role, inter alia, in mitigating climate change effects. This is recognised in the 2019 Climate Action Plan, which includes a range of actions including the development of further measures to help rehabilitate exploited and degraded peatlands. The Government announced in Budget 2020 that €5m would be made available for bog restoration and rehabilitation which will restore bogs to their natural habitat and help to capture carbon. With the injection of this funding, the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht intends to restore over 1,800 hectares of protected raised bog. An expanded bog restoration is also under development with Bord na Mona. 

The Climate Action Plan sets out a target of moving to 70% renewable electricity by 2030 which would reduce emissions to 4-5 MtCO2eq annually. Both offshore and onshore wind are expected to contribute significantly to decarbonisation of the electricity sector. In 2018, wind generated electricity alone avoided 3.1 million tonnes of CO2 according to the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland.