energy report
Delivering a cleaner energy future
Doubling carbon reduction ambitions Minister for Environment, Climate Action and Communications, Eamon Ryan TD, outlines progress on the Government’s plans to double its carbon emission reduction targets to 7 per cent over the next decade. Setting the context for the “historic need for change” in Ireland, Minister Ryan says that as the fifth anniversary of the Paris Climate Accord approaches, it’s important to remember the provision within the accord for countries to “review progress, raise ambitions and outline an enhanced path to meet the objective of trying to keep global temperature increase below an average of 1.5oC”, within those five years. “It’s a challenge beyond compare,” states the Minister, setting out that Ireland is committed to doing this as a country within the European Union and in co-operation with the wider world. Outlining the context in which Ireland has set its ambitions, the Minister says that the recent decision by the Chinese Government to enhance their ambition
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does not just boost the likelihood of achieving the global temperature goal but also provides “real certainty” that this is where the modern economy is heading and where competition is going to take place. Additionally, Ryan says he has been encouraged by the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s decision to set an ambition of a 55 per cent reduction of emissions by 2030. “I hope under the German presidency we can commit to net zero carbon neutral by 2050, which is the very latest we need to do it if we are to meet those climate targets. “I mention the wider context because it puts in frame what we’re doing or trying to do in Ireland,” states the Minister. “We’re on a good path in terms of getting the governance right, starting
with the Citizens’ Assembly asking the right question: ‘How could we be leaders rather than laggards on climate?’ “I think we did better again when we set up the Joint Oireachtas Climate Committee in the last Dáil, which looked at the findings of the Citizens’ Assembly and assessed what these meant in practice and what we would need to do. The then-Minister Richard Bruton did a really good job to turn that into a Climate Action Plan “Now, this government is saying we need to take that and do more. We need to double the level of ambition to go from not just a 3.5 per cent cut of emissions but to go for a 7 per cent cut on average over the next decade.” Outlining the scale of this challenge, the Minister believes that it is one “far
