EPA - Ireland's Environment, An Integrated Assessment - 2020

Ireland’s Environment – An Integrated Assessment 2020 EU Climate Policy: Mitigation EU climate policy has been informed by the work of the IPCC and largely implemented through structures and mechanisms such as emissions trading, the ‘basket’ of GHGs 3 and land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF) regulation rules, which were developed under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol to the UNFCCC. The Kyoto Protocol was designed to enable developed industrial countries to lead on climate actions to collectively reduce their emissions relative to those in 1990. This required domestic actions by the Parties with targets to reduce emissions. Ireland’s targets were established under the EU Burden and Effort Sharing Decision (ESD) (Decision 406/2009/EC), which covered the periods from 2008 to 2012 and from 2013 to 2020, respectively (EU, 2009). In the period to 2012 Ireland was allowed to increase its emissions while overall EU emissions were reduced. A series of market and trading mechanisms were established at EU and UN levels to reduce the costs of actions. This included an Emissions Trading System (ETS), the Clean Development Mechanism and the use of land-based removal, which focused on carbon removals due to afforestation. It also established a ‘basket’ of gases, which could be traded as carbon dioxide equivalence based on a common metric of GWP100 (global warming potential); this created sectoral and cross-sectoral trading based on a carbon price. The EU emissions reduction targets to 2020 and 2030 were adopted ahead of the UNFCCC meetings in Copenhagen in 2009 and Paris in 2015. At the EU level these retain 1990 as a base year reference point. They also fit into the EU roadmap to 2050. This was informed by the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report (IPCC, 2007). The EU Green Deal, including its Climate Law and climate neutrality goal for 2050, are informed by the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report, the IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C and the goals of the Paris Agreement. This may result in revisions to the 2030 emissions reduction ambition. 3 Under the Kyoto Protocol a basket of GHG was adopted, which included carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, as well as the F-gases (hydrofluorocarbons and perfluorocarbons) and sulphur hexafluoride (SF6). These are weighted relative to carbon dioxide by a 100-year global warming potential value and aggregated carbon dioxide equivalent emissions. The 2020 targets established under the 2020 Climate and Energy Package established one EU-wide target for large-scale emitters under the EU ETS and another set of targets for each EU Member State under the ESD (see Topic Box 2.1). This package did not allow the use of forest or other land use-based offsets. Ireland will meet its 2020 targets through a combination of national actions and the use of flexibilities, which allow the purchase of emissions reductions from other Member States. The EU emissions reduction targets established for 2030 were communicated to the UNFCCC in the EU NDC under the Paris Agreement (see above). These are to be achieved through the 2030 Climate and Energy Framework. EU Climate Policy: Adaptation The EU strategy on adaptation to climate change was published in 2013 (EC, 2013). The strategy has an overall aim of contributing to a more climate-resilient Europe and focuses on three key objectives: 1. promoting action by Member States 2. ‘climate-proofing’ action at EU level 3. better informed decision-making – addressing gaps in knowledge about adaptation. The European Commission published an evaluation of the strategy in November 2018, which found that, while it had delivered on its objectives, Europe was still vulnerable to climate impacts (EC, 2018a). Under the European Green Deal ‘a new, more ambitious EU strategy on adaptation to climate change’ will be adopted in 2021, building on the 2013 strategy (EC, 2019b). The EU has embarked on a consultation process on the next EU adaptation strategy and has adopted an Adaptation Mission under Horizon Europe. The EU and the World Meteorological Organization have developed a series of climate services to support decision-making within and across sectors. Relevant EU-wide information and data are available on the Climate Adapt information portal (https://climate- adapt.eea.europa.eu ). The Copernicus Climate Change Service supports adaptation and mitigation policies of the EU by providing consistent and authoritative information on climate change. 4 4 https://climate.copernicus.eu/what-copernicus (accessed 5 October 2020) 40