Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The monitoring and quarterly reporting of actions due under successive updates of the Climate Action Plan is conducted by the Department of the Taoiseach with input from relevant Departments. Progress reports up to quarter three of 2023 are accessible on gov.ie. The Progress Report for Q4 2023 is being finalised and will be made available following consideration by Government. The status of my Department’s actions as of the end of the quarter 4 reporting period will be included within this report following Government consideration.

To allow for the tracking of uncompleted actions from Climate Action Plan 2021, a separate report was published by the Department of the Taoiseach alongside the 2022 Q4 report which detailed the progress of all actions that had not been completed by the end of 2022. This report provides detail on each delayed action and on those that were due for completion in 2023 or beyond, indicating whether they were included in the Annex of Actions for Climate Action Plan 2023 or dealt with otherwise. This report is also available on gov.ie.

This report shows that my Department was the lead on 3 actions delayed from Climate Action Plan 2021 which followed on for completion as part of Climate Action Plan 2023.

Two of these actions, numbered 69c and 69d, related to the reform of the Public Spending Code, now the Infrastructure Guidelines, and will be reported as complete in the upcoming Climate Action Plan 2023 progress report. The aim of this work is to improve the Government’s understanding of the impacts of investment decisions on the wider environment and climate. As part of this programme of work, my Department worked with the OECD, funded by the EU Commission through DG REFORM’s Technical Support Instrument, on two aspects of public capital expenditure appraisal requirements in Ireland:

1. The model for assessing the emissions impact of infrastructure investment; and
2. The appraisal of investments that may be vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

This programme resulted in the publication of work by the OECD in Q2 2023. Subsequently, the Public Spending code was replaced by the Infrastructure Guidelines, published in December 2023. The Infrastructure Guidelines set out the value for money guidelines for the evaluation, planning and management of public investment projects, including purchase or acquisitions of assets or shareholdings, in Ireland. Reflecting recommendations put forward by the OECD, the updated Guidelines enhance guidance on appraising the climate and environmental performance of a capital proposal. The arrangements set out in the Guide apply to all public bodies and all bodies in receipt of Exchequer capital funding.

The remaining action marked as delayed from Climate Action Plan 2021, numbered 69b, related to the ongoing work to revise the shadow price of carbon as part of the Infrastructure Guidelines in light of our enhanced climate ambition. My officials have worked with the Marine and Renewable Energy Institute (MaREI) in UCC to carry out the analysis needed to inform this work. This was delayed from Q4 2022 pending the finalisation of the OECD’s review and the publication of the new Infrastructure Guidelines. As these have now been published, publication of the updated shadow price of carbon is expected imminently.

Updates on my Department’s progress on actions contained within Climate Action Plan 2023 will be included in the Progress Report for Q4 2023 which is being finalised and will be made available following consideration by Government.