Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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73. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he has circulated potential targets under the Circular Economy and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2022 to stakeholders in the various sectors; and if he would consider integrating these targets with the process for monitoring climate target delivery. [41414/24]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The first whole-of-government Circular Economy Strategy was launched in December 2021. The Strategy sets out an overall approach to circular economy policy, identifies key objectives and indicates the direction of future policy development. There is an explicit commitment in the text to revise the Strategy on an ongoing basis, including through the introduction of more detailed targets as policy develops further.

The next version of the Strategy currently being drafted will have a statutory basis and, in line with the requirements under the Circular Economy Act, will include targets for key sectors, delivering on the potential to make significant contributions to the circular transition. It is therefore being constructed on the basis of a comprehensive and detailed analysis of Ireland’s current national material flows and level of circularity based on a methodology that allows for international comparisons of Ireland’s performance relative to peer countries.

In this context, and to inform the Strategy, a Circularity Gap Report has been prepared. The purpose of this report, which was published in September, is to enable us to better understand the levers for change in moving to a circular economy and the benefits that these levers could bring based on a solid assessment. The reports’ analysis, findings and recommendations have been shared with all stakeholders and are informing the development of the second Circular Economy Strategy which is now being drafted.

It is recognised that material use, and carbon emissions are tightly coupled, with specific sectors contributing the most. In that context the Strategy will take account of the Climate Action Plan, and targets ascribed to specific sectors and associated circular interventions will be monitored for their effectiveness in reducing both our emissions and our consumption-based material footprint.