Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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62. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment his plans for the replacement of fossil fuel-based electricity generation by the generation of electricity from non-fossil fuels as a means of reduction of emissions in a sustainable way; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16199/20]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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In the Programme for Government we have committed to an average 7% per annum reduction in overall greenhouse gas emissions from 2021 to 2030 (a 51% reduction over the decade) and to achieving net zero emissions by 2050.

The Climate Action Plan commits to reaching a 70% share of renewable electricity by 2030, a reduction of 50-55% of emissions relative to pre-NDP 2030 projections.

The reliable supply of safe, secure and clean energy is essential in order to deliver a phase-out of fossil fuels. In Ireland, 28% of all electricity generated in 2018 was from wind, which is more than double the electricity generated from coal and peat combined.

The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) estimated that renewable energy additionally avoided 4.7 million tonnes of CO₂emissions and €623 million of fossil fuel imports in 2018 with the carbon intensity of electricity falling to less than half what it was in 2000. This demonstrates the very substantial reductions in emissions that renewable electricity generation can produce.

My Department is holding the first Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS) auction this month, with auctions to be held each year thereafter, including the first RESS auction for offshore wind in 2021. RESS auctions will incentivise the introduction of sufficient renewable electricity generation to meet national and EU-wide renewable energy and decarbonisation objectives to 2030 and beyond.