Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South West, Fianna Fail)
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180. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the progress that has been made on climate action since 27 June 2020. [61783/22]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The Programme for Government, published in October 2020, set out a climate ambition which has since been placed on a statutory footing through the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021, which was signed into law in July 2021. The Act commits Ireland to achieve a climate neutral economy by no later than 2050, and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 51% by 2030 compared to 2018 levels. The significantly strengthened legally binding framework under the Act, with clear targets and commitments set in law, will help ensure that Ireland achieves its climate goals and obligations. Establishing these requirements in legislation places a clear obligation on this and future governments for sustained climate action.Within this strengthened framework, several important milestones in climate action have been reached. In November 2021, the Government published the Climate Action Plan 2021, which identifies the measures, actions and policies required to achieve our emissions reductions targets, while also setting out indicative ranges of emissions reductions across each sector of the economy. This was followed by the publication of an accompanying Annex of Actions, which sets out the detailed measures and actions, with timelines included, that are required to drive delivery of the Plan. By the end of Q3 2022, 77% (542 of 708) of Climate Action Plan 2021 measures due for completion had been delivered.Following the process set out in the Act, a carbon budget programme proposed by the Climate Change Advisory Council was approved by Government in February 2022, and subsequently adopted by the Oireachtas in April 2022. My Department then engaged with relevant Departments and Agencies, as well as members of the Climate Action Modelling Group, to prepare sectoral emissions ceilings within the limits of the agreed carbon budget programme. These sectoral emissions ceilings were approved by Government in July 2022.This year’s annual update of the Climate Action Plan (‘Climate Action Plan 2023’) is currently being developed, an as the first such plan to be developed under the provisions of the 2021 Act, it will reflect the targets set in the carbon budgets and sectoral emission ceilings.