Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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77. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the number of metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent that have been used to date out of the 295 Metric CO2 equivalent allocated for the first carbon budget. [63535/22]

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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83. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the amount of the first carbon budget, 295 Mt CO2 eq over the period 2021 to 2025, that has been exhausted as of December 2022; the date on which he expects the full budget to be exhausted; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [63762/22]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 77 and 83 together.

While full and final emissions data for 2022 is not yet available, recent reports of provisional data from the EPA have indicated that Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions increased by 4.7% in 2021 compared to 2020 and are now 1.1% above 2019 pre-COVID restriction levels. The recently published Climate Action Plan 2023 includes the EPA's latest emissions data, disaggregated for each sector, and illustrates the carbon budget remaining for each sector under the first carbon budget period (2021-2025).

This emissions data provides a strong reminder of the challenges Ireland faces as we seek to meet our ambitious, yet necessary, climate objectives and emissions targets. While the increase in emissions in 2021 was anticipated, as the country emerged from the most severe Covid-19 restrictions, we must focus relentlessly on how to accelerate the policies, measures and actions that will not only reduce our emissions, but will also support new ways of conducting business and encouraging innovation. To reverse the current trajectory of emissions and meet our 2030 and 2050 targets, a significant shift is required in the speed at which we implement the Climate Action Plan so as to decarbonise our economy and improve our indigenous supply of sustainable and renewable energy.