Written answers

Tuesday, 10 November 2020

Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment

Climate Change Policy

Photo of Holly CairnsHolly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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101. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the way in which his Department defines the concept of just transition; and the information on which the definition is based. [35120/20]

Photo of Eamon RyanEamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The Programme for Government notes that the transition to a low-carbon future will unleash huge changes in society that, while presenting significant challenges, will also bring a range of opportunities, the impacts of which will be unevenly spread and will manifest themselves in different ways. The Programme for Government, therefore, affirms the necessity for a just transition pathway to be found, which delivers alternative job opportunities to sectors and regions most affected, and ensures that vulnerable groups are helped, as transformative policies are implemented. This will require the anticipation of challenges and planning for responses to them. The Programme for Government includes a number of specific commitments in relation to addressing this objective including:

- publishing a detailed all-of-government implementation plan consistent with the recommendations of the first report of the Just Transition Commissioner;

- establishing a standing Office of the Just Transition Commissioner, with appropriate staffing and resources;

- addressing the need to plan for just transition by identifying and preparing for challenges that will arise in a number of sectors and regions, recognising that there will be a variety of different transitions, and that it is clear that there will be no simple one-size fits all approach;

- ensuring that financing is available and continue to grow the size of the Just Transition Fund.

The Government will build on the work of a number of different organisations in further developing its policy on just transition and in implementing the Programme for Government commitments.

The Government recognises that the transition out of peat in the Midlands is the first test of a just transition for Ireland. The first progress report of the Just Transition Commissioner, Mr Kieran Mulvey, published on 22 May, reflects a comprehensive engagement with relevant stakeholders in the Midlands, setting out the analysis of the challenges facing the region, and for Bord na Móna workers, their families and communities, arising from an accelerated exit from peat harvesting. The report contains important recommendations. The Government is already acting on a number of these and is committed to preparing an implementation plan to address the remainder, which I intend to publish in the coming weeks. The recommendations and associated actions will support job creation efforts and create new opportunities for Bord na Móna workers in the Midlands.

Our policy development will also be informed by the work of the National Economic and Social Council, including its published research on just transition and its conference last month on the theme of ‘Delivering a Just Transition for All.’ In addition, I welcome the inclusion, for the first time, of detailed analysis of just transition issues in most recent Annual Review of the Climate Change Advisory Council, published in September.

Our work on just transition also needs to be taken forward in the context of the EU Green Deal, which has identified the role of just transition in supporting the low carbon transition in a fair and inclusive way, and sets out the objective of managing the transition to address future significant structural changes in business models, skills requirements and relative prices, taking account of how citizens, depending on their social and geographic circumstances, will be affected in different ways.

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