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

Chapter 2: Climate Change Topic Box 2.1 EU Climate and Energy Framework from 2021 to 2030 The EU Climate and Energy Framework 5 includes three components to enable progress on the mitigation of emissions: the ETS, 6 the Effort Sharing Regulation (ESR) (EC, 2016) and the LULUCF regulation. 7 Each component covers specific activities leading to GHG emissions and removals: n The ETS covers large-scale energy generation, industry and aviation. Across the EU, the ETS covers 45 per cent of total emissions, although in Ireland it covers approximately 28 per cent of emissions and includes about 100 facilities. The EU has agreed a 2030 target of 43 per cent emissions reductions relative to emissions in 2005. n The ESR includes emissions from transport, agriculture, residential and commercial activities, F-gases (hydrofluorocarbons and perfluorocarbons) and waste. Across the EU, the ESR covers 55 per cent of total emissions; in Ireland it covers 72 per cent, where agriculture is the largest sector at 46 per cent of the ESR, in contrast to approximately 17 per cent for the EU as a whole. Each Member State has agreed a national target for emissions reductions across the ESR activities, with Ireland agreeing a target of 30 per cent emissions reductions relative to emissions in 2005. n The LULUCF regulation is intended to give EU Member States incentives to improve land management to reduce carbon losses and maintain and enhance carbon stocks associated with land use. The LULUCF regulation sets a binding commitment for each Member State to ensure that accounted emissions from land use are entirely compensated for by an equivalent removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through action in the sector. This is known as the ‘no debit’ rule. In addition, if a Member State can demonstrate an increase in carbon removals, the Climate and Energy Framework provides a mechanism by which a proportion of these can be offset towards its ESR target. Other flexible mechanisms exist within the Climate and Energy Framework. This allows for overachievement on targets within one component to contribute to targets within the ESR. Access to these flexibilities is limited. For example, in recognition of the challenges to achieving emissions reductions within agriculture, and to stimulate additional action in the land use sector, Member States can use carbon dioxide removals from LULUCF towards their ESR targets. Ireland can use flexibilities from LULUCF to contribute up to 26.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (Mt CO 2 eq) of the 2021-2030 ESR target. The ESR allows nine Member States the choice to use a limited amount of ETS allowances for offsetting emissions in the effort sharing sectors in the period 2021-2030. Ireland can potentially use 4 per cent of its 2005 effort sharing emissions annually from 2021 to 2030 to offset emissions in the effort sharing sector. Finally, Ireland can also trade emissions reductions with other Member States that have either under- or overachieved on their ESR targets. Ireland’s Policy Context National climate policy and legislation has been evolving and strengthening in recent years and Ireland is now at the stage where implementation needs to be the priority. The National Policy Position on Climate Action and Low Carbon Development was adopted in 2014 (DCCAE, 2014). It recognised the threat that climate change poses for humanity and established a long-term national mitigation objective of low-carbon transition based on an aggregate reduction in carbon dioxide emissions of at least 80 per cent by 2050 compared with 1990 levels, across the electricity generation, built environment and transport sectors. In parallel, it adopted an approach to carbon neutrality in the agriculture and land use sector, including forestry, which does not compromise capacity for sustainable food production. It recognises 5 https://ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/strategies/2030_en 6 https://ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/ets/revision_en 7 https://ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/forests/lulucf_en the challenges and opportunities of the broad transition agenda for society and aims, as a fundamental national objective, to achieve transition to a low-carbon, climate- resilient and environmentally sustainable economy by 2050. The National Policy Position is the basis for the transition objective established in the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015 (Government of Ireland, 2015). That Act established the National Mitigation Plan (NMP) 8 and National Adaptation Framework (NAF) processes, which are designed to address the causes and consequences of climate change in Ireland. These are to be updated every 5 years. The Act also established the Climate Change Advisory Council (CCAC), to advise the government on climate policy and review progress on the achievement of targets annually. 8 In July 2020 the Supreme Court found that the National Mitigation Plan fails to comply with the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015 because it does not set out how the national transition objective of decarbonising Irish society is to be achieved – https://www.gov.ie/en/press-release/410b1-minister-ryan-welcomes- the-judgement-of-the-supreme-court-today-in-relation-to-national- mitigation-plan/ (accessed 1 October 2020). 41