Ireland Warned it Will Not Meet Climate Budget Targets
Ireland will not meet the targets set in the first and second carbon budget periods unless urgent action is taken immediately, and emissions begin to fall much more rapidly. That’s according to the Climate Change Advisory Council’s Annual Review for 2023.
The Climate Change Advisory Council is an independent advisory body tasked with assessing and advising on how Ireland is making the transition to a climate resilient, biodiversity rich, environmentally sustainable and climate neutral economy.
The Council says that 2023 is a critical year for the delivery of Ireland’s national climate action and that we must see emissions fall consistently if the country is to meet national and EU legal obligations in full and on time.
Calling for leadership and effective community engagement, the Council said that the pace of implementation of agreed policy by Government was not acceptable given the existential threat and impact of climate change on society.
While it recognised the importance of specific milestones including the adoption of carbon budgets and sectoral emissions ceilings and related implementation plans, the Council said that not enough has been done to address the gap between climate action and ambition.
On the scale and pace of change required, the Council said that rapid and far-reaching transitions across all sectors and throughout society are necessary to achieve deep and continuous emissions reductions and to secure a liveable and sustainable future for all.
Chair of the Climate Change Advisory Council Marie Donnelly said, ‘Government still has not identified how carbon budgets are to be allocated to sectors with uncertainties relating to the LULUCF sectoral emissions ceiling and the unallocated savings for the second carbon budget period. The Council is extremely concerned that this clarity may arrive too late to provide the necessary signals to all sectors of their obligations over the period to 2030 and beyond. If we are to achieve our targets this needs to be clarified urgently to enable sectors to prepare their approach to ensure they comply with their targets in the future.’
Within its Annual Review, the Council has set out a series of crucial recommendations. These include the need for government to build and maximise public support for climate action, ensuring a just transition and leveraging actions already in place where higher ambition or quicker delivery would positively impact change.
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