National Carbon Budget

One of the key highlights in the recently published National Climate Action Plan is proposals for the arrival of a five year carbon budget. The strict budget covers key sectors and will be set out by a newly established independent Climate Action Council (DCCAE, 2019). These policy actions follow recommendations from the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action report. 

A new Climate Action (Amendment) bill is required to implement the Carbon budget. This bill will act by introducing a requirement on Government to propose carbon budgets for three five-year periods. The Carbon budget will be calculated on an economy- wide basis, covering all emissions (Emissions Trading System (ETS) and the non-ETS sectors) that can be emitted over a five year period. The first three carbon budgets will cover the following five-year periods: 2021 to 2025, 2026 to 2030, and 2031 to 2035 (DCCAE, 2019).

 Plans to commence the carbon budget system will be set by the government before the Climate Action (Amendment) Bill comes into law. Once agreements on the overall carbon budgets have been made in the Dáil, the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment will propose a decarbonisation target range for each sector that responds to budget allocations. Annual trajectory target range proposals for each sector will also be considered.