Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021, establishes a legally binding framework with clear targets and commitments set in law, and provides that the necessary structures and processes are embedded on a statutory basis to ensure Ireland achieves its national, EU and international climate goals and obligations in the near and long term.

The Act requires Government to adopt a series of economy-wide five-year carbon budgets, including sectoral targets for each relevant sector, on a rolling 15-year basis, starting in 2021.

The first two five-year carbon budgets proposed by the CCAC will equate to a total reduction of 51% in emissions over the period to 2030, in line with the Programme for Government commitment.

The policies and measures to achieve the targets in these Budgets and Sectoral Emission Ceilings will be set out in the Climate Action Plan due to be published in autumn 2021 and will be updated annually thereafter.

The Carbon Budgets called for by the Act are for five-year periods and will not set targets for individual years. However, Ireland has parallel obligations under European Law which do set annual limits on carbon emissions.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021 provides that each carbon budget is to represent the total amount of greenhouse gases that may be emitted in the State during each 5 year period, measured in tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent. This in and of itself is a target.The carbon budgets will be consistent with furthering the achievement of the national climate objective and include all greenhouse gases. The budgets shall provide for a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions such that the total amount of annual greenhouse gas emissions in the year ending on 31 December 2030 is 51 per cent less than the annual greenhouse gas emissions reported for the year ending on 31 December 2018, as set out in the national greenhouse gas emissions inventory prepared by the Environmental Protection Agency.

The Act is framed within the context of our international obligations. It provides a limited number of matters which the Climate Change Advisory Council will consider when proposing carbon budgets. This includes relevant scientific advice, international best practice on the reporting of greenhouse gas emissions and removals, and principles of climate justice.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The Climate Change Advisory Council will have a role in the consideration of progress in relation to our emissions targets. The Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021 requires that the Minister for Climate Action must give an account annually to a Joint Committee of the Oireachtas for compliance with the carbon budget and progress under the Climate Action Plan. The Joint Committee considerations will also be informed by the annual report of the Climate Change Advisory Council, which - under the Act - will now also include assessment of compliance with the carbon budget, and with sectoral emissions ceiling for that period.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021 provides that carbon budgets will be prepared and updated every five years. It will be the responsibility of the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communication to prepare, within the limits of the carbon budget, the maximum amount of greenhouse gas emissions that are permitted in different sectors of the economy during a budget period. These are referred to in the Act as a ‘sectoral emissions ceiling’ and different ceilings may apply to different sectors.

The sectors of the economy to which each sectoral emissions ceiling shall apply shall be determined from time to time by the Government. The Minister shall, when preparing a sectoral emissions ceiling, consult with such Ministers of the Government as he or she considers appropriate. The Minister shall, as soon as may be after a carbon budget takes effect under section 6B, finalise and submit each sectoral emissions ceiling to the Government for approval.