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Environment
Analysing the Climate Action Bill: Progressive Agenda or Greenwashed Illusion? By Eoin Jackson, SS Law
On the 23rd July 2021, President Higgins signed the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2021 into law (hereinafter the 2021 Bill). The 2021 Bill commits Ireland to become carbon neutral by 2050, while it aims to achieve a 51 per cent reduction in 2018 carbon emissions by 2030. This article seeks to analyse the 2021 Bill and consider whether it contains sufficient provisions to ensure that Ireland becomes a sustainable carbon neutral economy by 2050. The Climate Change Advisory Council and Carbon Budgets: Two Steps Forward, One Step Back One of the central functions of the 2021 Bill is to enhance the role of the Climate Change Advisory Council (hereinafter the Council). According to Section 6A of the 2021 Bill, the role of the Council is to “prepare a carbon budget, consistent with furthering the achievement of the national climate objective” for a 5-year period. These budgets are then renewed every 5 years until the end goal of carbon neutrality by 2050 is achieved. The Council can also be consulted by the Minister to assess what the best strategies are to achieve carbon neutrality. The Council itself consists of experts in fields such as, “Climate science, energy policy and economics,” among other relevant fields, as per Section 4. It is therefore designed to add a layer of expertise to the government’s attempts to transition towards a sustainable economy. While the 2021 Bill is progressive in terms of codifying the role of the Council, it is disappointing that the proposed carbon budgets can still be subject to amendment by the relevant Minister. This means that, where the Minister disagrees with any section of the carbon budget, they can amend the targets provided that, as per Section 6B(5), they set out reasons for doing so. There is no guidance provided as to what reasons would be considered justifiable where the carbon budget is being reduced, which pose problems should a Minister be lobbied by polluting sectors (e.g the agricultural sector), to amend in a manner that is not conducive to carbon neutrality. This takes away some of the Council’s power, as it appears that a Minister can veto a section of the budget as they see fit. Further, Section 6(11) reduces the Council’s capacity to create effective budgets. This section renders the government responsible for “determining how the removal of greenhouse gas emissions may be taken into account, and in particular the method of calculating and accounting for such removals, including the base year to be applied to such removals, when complying with a carbon budget and a sectoral emissions ceiling.” The Council is bound to comply with these regulations, meaning they can only create a carbon budget in accordance with the government’s determination of how a greenhouse gas is to be calculated. This is dangerous as it allows governments to manipulate figures and adjust greenhouse gas emission figures in a manner that may be more favourable to the ruling party of the day. By setting out preliminary barriers to the calculation
