Latest news with #ClimateActionPlan
ITV News
a day ago
- Politics
- ITV News
First climate action plan targets increase in electricity from renewable sources in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland's first draft Climate Action Plan sets a target that 80% of the region's electricity should come from renewable sources by 2030. The roadmap also proposes reducing the amount of waste that goes to landfill to 10% by 2035 and planting 9,000 hectares of new woodland by the end of the decade. Launching a 16-week consultation on the plan, Environment Minister Andrew Muir described it as a 'milestone moment'. The action plan is a legal requirement of the Climate Change Act that was passed by the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2022. It sets out the proposed path that Northern Ireland will take to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050 as well as achieving a carbon budget target of a 33% average annual reduction in emissions between 2023 and 2027. Mr Muir said: 'I am fully committed to delivering Northern Ireland's first Climate Action Plan – one that is grounded in robust science and evidence, shaped by stakeholder voices, necessarily ambitious and aligned with our pledge to a just transition. 'This isn't just a plan, it's a roadmap towards a more sustainable future. 'The publication of the draft Climate Action Plan is a milestone moment that will inform how we reduce our emissions, grow our green economy, protect our environment and improve our health and wellbeing.' The minister said the collapse of the powersharing Executive in 2022 meant that some pace on creating the plan had been lost, adding 'we can ill afford to delay or defer action'. During the 16-week consultation period, a series of consultation events, including sector-specific sessions, will be held across Northern Ireland. The plan sets out a number of policies and proposals to reduce emissions, affecting several Stormont departments. These include the proposals to increase the proportion of electricity produced from renewable sources with an 80% target by 2030. The plan also sets a policy direction of switching vehicle fuels to low-emission alternatives, improving energy efficiency in residential buildings, including through better insulation and reducing energy consumption in the government estate. It targets an increase in household recycling, increasing municipal waste recycling to 65% and reducing waste to landfill to 10% by 2035. The plan includes a policy of reducing nitrogen fertiliser use in agriculture, creating 9,000 hectares of new woodland by 2030 and restoring 10,000 hectares of peatland by 2027. Mr Muir said: 'We have seen the damaging and costly impacts of climate change around the world and closer to home from flash flooding, wildfires and more frequent and severe storms. 'No section of society is immune. 'It is essential we take action and I would encourage everyone to take part in this 16-week consultation.' Met Office chief scientist, Professor Stephen Belcher, said: 'We can see our climate is rapidly changing in our observations. 'We have a responsibility to future generations to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases to net zero to stabilise the climate. 'And we also have a responsibility to citizens now and to future generations to accelerate our efforts to adapt to the extreme weather events we are seeing now in our changing climate. 'Action plans such as this are a vital step in this journey and the consultation on this plan is a valuable opportunity for the public to engage with this process.' Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To Know.
Extra.ie
2 days ago
- Automotive
- Extra.ie
State urged to give €10k grants to encourage electric vehicle switch
Low-income households should be provided with grants of up to €10,000 to make the switch to electric vehicles, the Climate Change Advisory Council has said. Ireland is on course to miss its carbon emission reduction targets for the transport sector, a 50% reduction by 2030, as set out in the Climate Action Plan, exposing the State to substantial EU fines. Transport emissions decreased by just an estimated 1.3% last year, and the Climate Change Advisory Council has now called for urgent Government intervention. Pic: Getty Images The key to delivering emissions reductions in the transport sector is ending its reliance on harmful and expensive fossil fuels, Business Plus reports. An increase in new battery electric vehicle (BEV) registrations and the achievement of targets for BEV adoption under the Climate Action Plan must be realised. To drive this forward, the Council has recommended that grants of up to €10,000 (for BEVs with a purchase price of less than €35,000) be provided for lower-income households. Pic: Matt Rakowski/Shutterstock In parallel, there needs to be an accelerated roll-out of publicly accessible electric vehicle charging infrastructure. Marie Donnelly, chair of the Climate Change Advisory Council said: 'Transport is Ireland's biggest source of energy demand, and emissions from the sector must reduce by half if the sector is to meet its target. 'Supports should be aimed at increasing affordability and lower emission options, such as a larger grant for new BEVs under €35,000, are necessary to assist the Government to achieve its own targets in this area.'
The Journal
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Journal
Last government could have done better at helping Midlands adjust to peat-cutting ban
HELP GIVEN TO the Midlands to adapt to the peat-cutting ban was done in a reactive, rather than proactive, way, a new expert advisory group has said. The government should take lessons from the Midlands case study and have a better-planned approach in the future when helping other areas that are affected by climate action measures. That message comes as part of a report about how Ireland can ensure a just transition as it navigates the climate crisis. The idea of a just transition is about making sure that vulnerable groups people, communities and places aren't put at a disadvantage by the climate transition – either by climate change itself, or as a result of measures adopted to try to fight it – and can instead experience the benefits of climate action. That is to say, climate action should make life better, not worse, and it should be done fairly. In its first report, the new Just Transition Commission has taken stock of how Ireland is currently doing at trying to make the climate transition a just one. The answer, in short: We've made a start, but there's a lot of work that needs to be done to help people who are most affected by the climate transition and to make sure people can understand and experience the benefits of Ireland taking climate action. Mending the Midlands One of the first ways that Ireland has had to deal with a large number of people experiencing negative effects of a climate action measure was through the peat extraction ban. In 2022, the Fine Gael-Fianna Fáil-Green Party coalition government introduced a ban on the commercial sale of peat for fuel. This was in line with the country's efforts to switch to renewable sources of energy instead of fossil fuels that produce harmful greenhouse gas emissions, which are responsible for trapping heat inside the atmosphere and forcing average global temperatures upwards. But in the Midlands, where peat extraction was both an economic and cultural tradition for many families, it was a disconcerting blow. 'Ireland's experience with closing peat-fired power stations and ending commercial peat extraction in the Midlands offers important lessons for how to put just transition into practice,' the Commission's report said. The introduction of the government's just transition initiative came after the decision to cease peat extraction, not before. That meant it was much more of a reactive measure than a proactive one, the report said. As a result, its role in reducing disruption and mitigating impacts on workers, families and communities was limited. Advertisement The Commission stated that 'meaningful' just transition needs the state to take action 'well in advance' of decisions that bring about significant change. Reaping the rewards of climate action Creating a Just Transition Commission was mooted in the 2021 Climate Action Plan, but it took the government until 2024 to establish it. The Commission is made up of ten members, including representatives from sectors like agriculture, business and trade unions as well as climate experts, and chairperson Ali Sheridan. A core message of the report is that climate action should help to address and alleviate inequalities in society, not make them worse. It says the government shouldn't just try to soften the potential negative impacts of climate action measures but should also seek out the positive side-effects of climate action for the country – and explain what those are. The report states that there is a real risk that the climate transition could deepen existing inequalities in society unless deliberate action is taken to make sure that doesn't happen. 'We're at a critical time for climate action at large in Ireland,' said Commission chair Ali Sheridan. 'We're emerging from years, potentially decades, of understanding what we need to do in terms of what the science depicts and how we need to respond to it, but now we have to do much better at explaining how we're going to do it – who is going to be impacted, who is going to be the most vulnerable, and where it is we're trying to get to.' Speaking to The Journal , Sheridan said that the way just transition is handled currently in the government's climate action plans is focused largely on maximising employment opportunities. But it shouldn't be only about the number of jobs, Sheridan said. Rather, it needs to account for the quality of the jobs – making sure the employment is accessible and sustainable. A just transition would create 'an Ireland that builds a better future for all and ensures that no one is left behind'. 'While Ireland was not a major fossil fuel producer, that doesn't mean we're not going to be exposed in terms of climate risks and transitions. And while our transition might be more subtle, that shouldn't be conflated with being a softer or easier transition. In fact, it could be a much more widely spread, diverse transition,' Sheridan said. Public support The report also highlights that failing to make Ireland's climate transition a just one risks weakening public support for climate action. 'We're very lucky in Ireland that we still have a vast majority of the public who support ambitious climate action, but that's not the case around the world,' Sheridan said. 'If we're not very proactive in the very near future in setting out what it is we're attempting to do, how it's going to benefit society and how society is going to be protected, the risk of disinformation in this space is going to continue to grow,' she said. 'We're going to need acceptance and an appetite for what we need to do, so we need to set out how that's going to benefit people. 'Only a planned transition can be a fair transition, and so a just transition depends on not only the ambition, but the delivery of climate action targets and goals as well.' Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
Irish Independent
3 days ago
- Politics
- Irish Independent
‘The next critical conversation': chair of Just Transition Commission says it's essential climate action is fair to all
The transition to a way of living, working and travelling that doesn't produce the greenhouse gas emissions that drive climate breakdown asks more of some people than others. It is inherently, if unintentionally, unjust. And that's exactly what concerns the Just Transition Commission. 'We're very strong in Ireland on what we need to do in terms of climate action,' said commission chair Ali Sheridan. 'But how we're going to do it, who is going to be impacted, how are they going to be supported – that's the next critical conversation.' The Commission is an independent advisory body established by the government last year with 11 members appointed for a three-year term beginning last October. They come from a range of backgrounds, representing workers, farmers, business, academia, community organisations and children's rights. Its forerunner was the one-man Just Transition Commissioner post, assigned to Kieran Mulvey in 2019 specifically to oversee the government's response to the loss of jobs in the Midlands when Bord na Móna announced it would be shutting down its industrial peat extraction operations as part of its 'brown to green' transformation. But the concept of just transition originates with the international labour movement in the 1970s when employers in polluting industries shut up shop and left workers high and dry rather than bear the costs of new environmental regulations. Regulations were a benefit to society at large but that was little comfort to unemployed workers who, trade unions argued, should be supported to build new livelihoods rather than be simply sacrificed for the greater good. Around a decade ago, just transition became more closely associated with fossil fuel industries when countries such as Spain and Germany shut down coal mines to focus on developing renewable energy. ADVERTISEMENT And then the term entered public conversation in Ireland with the winding down of the peat industry. Now it is recognised that it has much wider implications. Whether it's determining which communities get flood protection first, what counties must host the most wind turbines, whose homes should be retrofitted for energy efficiency or where a new public transport service should be developed, Ms Sheridan says the principles of just transition must be central to decision-making. Government policy supports this view. The Programme for Government states that the Coalition will: 'Support the Just Transition Commission's work to listen to communities, address their concerns and ensure they benefit from the green transition.' The national Climate Action Plan has many references to just transition and its importance in implementing climate action measures. Legislation underpins this. The Climate Act states that the Government 'shall have regard to the requirement for a just transition to a climate-neutral economy which endeavours, in so far as is practicable, to maximise employment opportunities, and support persons and communities that may be negatively affected by the transition'. But Ms Sheridan has concerns around the strength of that wording. 'The current version being used in the Act and being used by Government is potentially very limited and very reactive in nature,' she said. 'Yes, it may soften the negative impacts of just transition, but it runs the risk of missing the much bigger opportunity we have to actually make just transition central to all our climate action going forward and all the co-benefits it can bring.' In its first report, published today, the Commission stresses the need for a clearer definition and vision for what just transition means in an Irish context. In meeting communities to prepare the report, the members found enthusiasm for the idea but also 'some level of scepticism and distrust' around it. 'If I was to ask you who is the most vulnerable to the climate transition, what sector, what type of person, what place, I don't think the answers to that are clear enough right now,' Ms Sheridan said. To that end, the commission has begun 'deep dives' into various sectors – agriculture, transport and energy to start with – and will begin publishing their findings later this year. Vulnerabilities can be wide-ranging, from the physical impacts of climate change on land and property to the financial burdens of trying to go green. 'We are going to be asking a huge amount of society in the very near coming years,' Ms Sheridan said. 'Every sector, every place, every person is going to be touched by this transition. 'We're only going to build the acceptance and appetite for what's to come if we put people and communities and places at the centre. 'So just transition is not a 'nice to have' – it's a critical part of delivering climate action.'
Irish Independent
5 days ago
- Business
- Irish Independent
Energy regulator ‘ignored' High Court ruling that could boost powers to restrict data centres
Sinn Féin MEP Lynn Boylan has now called on the regulator to publish its legal advice, as concerns mount over the expansion of the data centre sector. Ms Boylan sought documents under Freedom of Information (FOI) after the regulator, the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU), issued a proposal last February on the regulations that should apply to new data centres. Data centres currently use 22pc of all the country's electricity and multiple agencies and experts have warned that the electricity system cannot cope with their growing demand. The CRU proposed that new data centres could be permitted if they generated all the power they needed themselves. In theory, that could mean developing windfarms or solar parks, but because the proposal stated the generation plants must be on site, in reality they would be installing gas-fired generators. Such a move would drive up gas use and emissions, contrary to the Climate Action Plan and legally-binding emission-reduction targets. The CRU in its proposal said it had taken legal advice on potential measures such as requiring data centres to meet 'net zero' emissions standards. 'Following legal review, the CRU considers that the current provisions under the Climate Action Act do not provide a mandate to CRU to deliver a connections policy which requires explicit emissions reduction,' it said. However, just days before this was published, the High Court delivered a landmark ruling on the climate action responsibilities of state agencies and public bodies. It was made in relation to Coolglass Windfarm proposed for Co Laois, which An Bord Pleanála refused to grant planning permission for on the basis that it would contravene the Laois County Development Plan by being a visual intrusion on the landscape. ADVERTISEMENT Mr Justice Richard Humphreys said the grounds on which An Bord Pleanála based its decision were outweighed by the requirements of the Climate Act, specifically section 15 which deals with the responsibilities of public bodies to behave in accordance with the act. It was the first time the strength of section 15 was tested and has potentially massive implications for all public bodies. Yet the FOI documents show that a draft of the CRU proposal, drawn up before the highly publicised judgment, was the same as the decision made public after it. "The Coolglass ruling gave the CRU a clear legal footing to act decisively on data centres, yet the CRU's policy reads like business as usual, as if ruling never happened,' Ms Boylan said. "The claim that they lack the legal authority to act decisively on data centre emissions now rings hollow. The CRU must publish their legal advice.'
