The Climate Change Advisory Council will develop an annual plan based on a review of each sector to help tackle carbon emissions, its chair has said.
Marie Donnelly told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland that a recommendation to Government for an all-island carbon budget to tackle emissions across all sectors up to 2035 will be published shortly.
When asked exactly when, she replied “in the very near future.”
Ms Donnelly said that work was at an advanced stage to bring forward a carbon budget divided into two five-year blocks to cover the periods 2021-2025 and 2026-2030, with a provisional budget for the following five years.
The carbon budget would be based on the most up-to-date science, she said.
“We have a very real challenge. Ireland has set a very high ambition of achieving net zero emissions by 2050 and a 51 per cent reduction by 2030.”
Energy
The council will put forward an all-economy budget that will be allocated across individual sectors by the Government, she said.
To reduce emissions the electricity sector must shift to renewable energy using wind, wave, water and solar, followed by offshore wind and floating offshore wind in the years to come.
“Ireland is very fortunate in that we have a very high natural resource that will allow us to transition into a decarbonised electricity system over the next years”, she added.
The challenge for each sector will be dealt with in the Climate Action Plan, which will come in the form of policies, actions, supports and incentives to support each sector to stay within its own budget, she added.
