Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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367. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he consulted with or plans to consult with the Climate Change Advisory Council in relation to the efficacy, or lack thereof, of the procedures in Circular 01/2020 in offsetting the carbon emissions from official air travel. [13368/23]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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Circular 01/2020 enables the public sector to lead by example on climate action by internalising the cost of greenhouse gas emissions from air travel within public sector organisations, with the revenue raised from this being allocated to the Climate Action Fund administered by the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications. This action is necessary because the cost associated with greenhouse gas emissions from the aviation sector is not currently fully incorporated into the price for air travel. The EU intends to fully incorporate the emissions impact of the airline sector within the scope of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) over time, and developments in this area will be monitored and updates made as appropriate.

The Climate Change Advisory Council was not consulted on the development of Circular 01/2020, and there are currently no plans to consult the Council on the procedures outlined therein. Assessment of the impact of the Circular on decision making within Departments about the use of air travel, or the beneficial impact of the additional funding for the Climate Action Fund, are matters for each individual Department and the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications, respectively.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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368. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the cost arising from the procedures in Circular 01/2020 in offsetting the carbon emissions from official air travel associated with St. Patrick's day travel. [13369/23]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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In January 2020, I as Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform introduced mandatory new procedures for all Departments and agencies for offsetting the emissions associated with official air travel. In line with these procedures each Government Department, Office and agency must record the CO₂emissions associated with all official air travel, value these emissions based on the prevailing rates of Ireland’s domestic Carbon Tax in the relevant year and pay an amount equivalent to the travel emissions impact into the Climate Action Fund.

The circular in question is available at:www.gov.ie/en/circular/6d8829-procedures-for-offsetting-the-emissions-associated-with-official-air/

As outlined in the circular, it is the responsibility of each Department to keep records of all its official air travel, whether by commercial airlines or on the Government jet, and to estimate the CO₂ emissions involved in all such travel undertaken within each calendar year.

Departments are free to reach their own determination on the optimal internal operational methodology for tracking their greenhouse gas emissions over the course of a year. This can be performed centrally by the Department’s travel unit for example or delegated to individual sections. However, there must be a central register maintained by each Department. This is to facilitate annual payments per Department to the Fund Manager of the Climate Action Fund and for potential audit. This Fund is administered by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, who accept payments from Departments and agencies and arrange a transfer of these amounts into the Fund in February of each year in respect of the previous year.

As official travel and other such administrative matters are within the delegated remits of each individual Department, my Department does not keep a central register of official travel undertaken by all Departments in any one year.

Also, I am advised by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications that, given that the payments are received on an annual basis with reference to the previous calendar year, rather than to occasions or periods, it would not be possible to provide the type of disaggregated breakdown requested, for Saint Patrick’s Day or any other specific occasion or event.

Any further queries on the administration of the Climate Action Fund should be directed to that Department in the first instance.