Ciarán Ahern (Dublin South West, Labour)
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97. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government his priorities ahead of COP30; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [60499/25]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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Following the characterisation of COP29 as the “finance COP”, the focus of COP30 has turned to implementation and, as such, there are no headline negotiation items for this COP. The EU will be looking for a balanced outcome that encompasses all key negotiation areas.

Making progress on mitigation is a key priority for the EU and Ireland after the failure to make meaningful progress in this area at COP29. Central to progress on mitigation must be consideration of the new Nationally Determined Contributions which will set out how Parties intend to reduce emissions up to 2035. Ireland submits a joint NDC with its EU partners.

A strong outcome on adaptation will also be central to this COP. The focus of negotiations for adaptation at COP30 will be the Global Goal on Adaptation and its indicators. This highly technical work has been ongoing since COP28. Ireland looks forward to the agreement of the indicators at COP30.

While climate finance will not be as central to COP30 as it was to COP29, it is still expected to deliver some key outcomes. Most prominently, the Baku to Belém Roadmap to 1.3T, mandated at COP29 will be published in advance of Belem. This is not a negotiated item and how it will be reflected in the final outcome remains to be seen.

In addition to the above, just transition, capacity building, forests and gender are all expected to feature heavily in negotiations.

COP30 will be a key milestone for Team Ireland in particular, as we prepare for COP31, at which Ireland will hold the Presidency of the EU and lead the COP negotiations on its behalf.