Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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200. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he is satisfied that carbon emissions throughout the EU are measured equally with a view to ensuring that the more developed countries in the EU do not have the advantage over expanding economies such as Ireland to ensure an evenly spread advantage or disadvantage throughout the EU and noting in particular the relatively low rate of heavy carbon emitting industry here; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13233/21]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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Article 13.7 of the Paris Agreement, of which both the EU and its Member States are signatories, requires signed parties to provide regular greenhouse gas emissions inventories to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), in order to track both a country’s achievement of their nationally determined contributions and climate policies as well as regional climate policies, and the world's progress in limiting global warming. The UNFCCC reporting guidelines on annual inventories for Annex I Parties (which covers EU Member States) require that Annex I Parties should use the IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories to measure emissions inventories. This ensures consistency of measurement across Member States. Emissions from heavy industry in the EU are managed under the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS). The EU ETS limits emissions from more than 11,000 heavy energy-using power stations, industrial plants and airlines. In Ireland, our ETS sector accounts for 25% of our emissions, with the remaining 75% in the non-ETS sector. This compares to an EU average of 39% ETS and 61% non-ETS. As the target for the EU ETS is set on an EU level, there is a level playing field for participants in the scheme across all EU Member States.