Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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57. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment when the national energy and climate plan will be published. [20642/23]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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My Department is responsible for the cross-Government coordination and development of the National Energy and Climate Plan with the first NECP being developed and submitted to the EU Commission in 2019.

Regulation (EU) 2018/1999 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2018 states that each Member State must finalise its latest notified integrated NECP by June 2024 with a draft submitted in 2023 to allow the Commission adequate time to analyse the draft Plan.

Since the publication of the 2018 Regulation new climate and energy regulations and targets have been introduced, which have dramatically changed the scope of the NECP. Many of these changes in targets have been as a result of the unjustified Russian aggression against the sovereign state of Ukraine which caused an energy crisis across the EU and a subsequent EU-wide effort to accelerate the roll-out of renewable energy supply. For example, the Renewable Energy Directive was reviewed to increase the renewable energy target from 32 to 40%, and on 30 March 2023 a new provisional agreement was reached, increasing the target to a minimum of 42.5%, but aiming for 45%, by 2030. The Energy Efficiency Directive Recast (EED recast) has recently been agreed but hasn’t yet been published and similarly will impact the content of the NECP.

The NECP is a complex exercise involving multiple Departments and Agencies. At this moment my Department is instituting the necessary tools and governance arrangements to ensure all data is gathered in an accurate and timely manner. My Department will aim to meet the timelines set in the Regulation, but with the pace of change of, in particular, energy targets, meeting these deadlines will be challenging for all member states.

We are aiming to publish a draft NECP later this year prior to running a public consultation and necessary environmental assessments. Regardless of the continuously evolving targets and complexities, I am hopeful that we will meet the deadline of June 2024 for publication of the final NECP.