Thread by @CAugustenborg

Thread: Ireland's #ClimateBill amendments are finally published with a press conference taking place on @RTENewsNow momentarily. Having painstakingly cross referenced this Bill with the original 2015 Low Carbon Development Bill, my initial thoughts 👇

gov.ie/en/publication…

Four big changes...
1. The good news – New Bill leads w/ much more ambitious 2050 target (climate neutrality) legislated for AHEAD of EU’s own plans to raise climate ambition. In legal terms, this puts IRK in climate leader category instead of laggard (on paper anyway).

2. Carbon budgets – Three 5-year carbon budgets set a national cap on emissions w/ a “decarbonisation range” for each sector within that budget set by the Minister, a process which is very clearly elaborated in the Bill.

We need regular carbon budgets, but it’s unclear how those budgets link to 2050 target & what the penalty is for failure to meet the overall budget or the sectoral decarbonisation ranges. Is a carbon budget or sectoral target any use if there’s no legal obligation to comply?

3. Climate Advisory Council – While not fully independent like the Fiscal Advisory Council, there's greater diversity of expertise & less dominance by semi-state bodies in addition to more clarity on voting rights.

However, while ESRI & SEAI are removed, Teagasc & EPA (as Secretariat) are retained and Met Eireann is added. Civil society argued semi-state bodies would be better placed advising the Council on request rather than having voting rights and acting as stakeholder representatives

This move to include some semi-state bodies but not others seems to have lost sight of the overall goal for a more expert-focused advisory council.

4. Local Climate Action plans – It’s an improvement from 2015 Bill to see climate mitigation now required in local climate action plans. However, the emphasis on local plans when even national plans seem to have so little teeth seems misguided.

As I read this section, I felt Ireland will be drowning in climate plans but lacking enforcement to take the actions that actually reduce emissions.

Overall, I’d rate this a 60% improvement on existing climate legislation, but without a legal obligation for Government to prepare policies that meet the carbon budgets, there’s not enough substantial change to force Ireland’s emissions curve downwards.

There are also a few mentions that the carbon budgets “shall have regard to” worrying things like “emerging technologies” and “carbon leakage”, potentially creating get-out-of-jail cards for real emissions reductions.

Here’s hoping opposition parties and civil society force some very necessary improvements to this Bill during pre-legislative scrutiny. 🤞

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https://twitter.com/CAugustenborg/status/1313860187883810818

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#ClimateBill #ClimateAct #Ireland #ClimateAction #ClimateChange