Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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84. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he has considered the policy implications of the ESRI's assessment of the embodied emissions in Irish imports; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9530/23]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I note the ESRI’s assessment of the embodied emissions in Irish imports and welcome the insight it provides. While Ireland’s climate policy primarily focuses on reducing production-based emissions in line with international accounting rules for national greenhouse gas inventories, it also considers the wider impacts of climate policy, including consumption-based emissions. The 2023 Climate Action Plan sets out cross-cutting and circular economy policies which will shape public procurement and the use of resources in our economy. Other policies included in the 2023 Climate Action Plan which aim to target production-based emissions can also reduce our carbon footprint. For example, policies designed to stimulate demand for alternative construction materials will lower the use of high carbon intensive products.

A well-established circular economy provides more access to better designed products, which can be shared, reused, repaired and remade thereby minimising the use of resources. This provides opportunities for local manufacture and remanufacture, supporting jobs and services while reducing the impact on the quality of our water, air, soil and health. Moving to a circular economy will play an important part in reducing global carbon emissions and protecting our natural resources, environment and health. The Circular Economy and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2022 is a key step in Ireland’s transition to a circular economy and provides a robust statutory framework for moving from a focus on managing waste to a much greater focus on adapting patterns of production and consumption.

At EU level, provisional agreement has been reached on the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism. In addition to reducing carbon leakage and enabling a reduction in the free allocation of allowances in the EU Emissions Trading System, the policy will also incentivise emissions reductions in third countries. This protects Irish and EU industries facing carbon pricing from cheaper carbon-intensive imports, and while that high emissions production processes are not simply relocated to third countries.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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While full and final emissions data for 2022 is not yet available, recent reports from the EPA and Eurostat have indicated that Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions increased in 2021 and may also have increased in 2022 as we emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. While EPA models for projected emissions are unable to take into account all policies and measures which have been committed to in our Climate Action Plans, the EPA’s reporting suggests a concerning trend which underlines the challenge of the climate crisis and the urgency with which we must respond.

Notwithstanding the anticipated increase in emissions in 2021 as the country emerged from the most severe Covid-19 restrictions, we must consider how to accelerate the 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 policies, measures and actions that will decarbonise our economy and improve our indigenous supply of sustainable and renewable energy.

The Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021, significantly strengthens the legally binding framework for climate governance in Ireland, and the sectoral emissions ceilings set out a clear pathway for meeting our carbon budgets and Ireland’s commitment to a 51% reduction in emissions by 2030.

These ceilings are reflected in the Climate Action Plan 2023 (CAP23), which was published on 21 December 2022. CAP23 builds on the 2021 Plan and sets out the policies, measures and actions needed to keep us within our carbon budgets and on the pathway to a net zero-emissions economy by no later than 2050. The process to deliver CAP23 included my Department engaging with other Government Departments, State Agencies and civil society to identify opportunities for accelerating climate action.

The establishment of delivery task forces to accelerate and drive climate action delivery in a number of key areas (including Offshore Wind; Heating and the Built Environment; and Sustainable Mobility) will support the acceleration in implementation of impactful decarbonising measures.