Download Opening Statement Department of Communications, Climate Action

Joint Committee on Communications Climate Action and Environment
EU legislative proposals COM(2016)479 and COM(2016)482
Tuesday 25th October, 17:00
Background
In October 2014, EU Heads of State or Government agreed a binding economywide domestic emissions reduction target of at least 40% by 2030, compared
to 1990. All Member States and all sectors are to contribute to achieving these
emission reductions. It was further agreed that to do so in a cost-effective
manner, the industrial and power sectors covered by the EU emissions trading
system (ETS) should reduce emissions by 43% by 2030 compared to 2005.
Other sectors of the economy (the so-called non-ETS sectors) should reduce
emissions by 30% by 2030 compared to 2005. The agreement also set out the
key principles for how the 2030 Climate and Energy package would be taken
forward.
The relevant Council Conclusions concerned set out the general parameters
that would apply to how the new targets would be set for the new effort
sharing decision to be agreed under the 2030 climate and energy framework.
These included:
- that the methodology to set the national reduction targets for the nonETS sectors would be in line with all the elements as applied in the Effort
Sharing Decision for 2020 (i.e. existing policy framework),
- that targets for the Member States with a GDP per capita above the EU
average were to be relatively adjusted to reflect cost-effectiveness in a
fair and balanced manner,
- that the availability and use of existing flexibility instruments within the
non-ETS sectors would be significantly enhanced in order to ensure costeffectiveness of the collective EU effort and convergence of emissions
per capita by 2030 and finally
- that the multiple objectives of the agriculture and land use sector, with
their lower mitigation potential, should be acknowledged, as well as the
need to ensure coherence between the EU's food security and climate
change objectives.
The 2030 Climate and Energy Framework comprises the Effort Sharing
Regulation (COM - 482), the LULUCF proposal (COM 479) and the Emissions
Trading System (ETS) regulation, which is nearing completion. Under the
framework the EU has committed to a binding target of at least a 40% domestic
reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 compared to 1990. This
commitment was announced at the 21st Conference of the Parties to the
UNFCCC as the EU’s commitment under the Paris Agreement to restrict global
temperature rise and tackle the challenges associated with climate change.
The Paris Agreement puts in place the necessary framework for all countries to
take ambitious action as well as providing for a transparent system that
ensures all countries can have confidence in each other’s efforts.
The
Agreement sets out a long-term goal to put the world on track to limit global
warming to well below 2 degrees centigrade (above pre-industrial levels) and
to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has been tasked with
evaluating what will be the specific policy implications of this goal with a
special report to be published in 2018.
The Agreement aims to tackle 95% of global emissions through 188 Intended
Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs). Ireland will contribute to the
Paris Agreement via the INDC tabled by the EU on behalf of Member States
which commits to 40% reduction in EU-wide emissions by 2030 compared to
1990.
Following decisions by the European Council (30 September 2016) and the
European Parliament (4 October 2016), the political process for the European
Union to ratify the Paris Agreement concluded. The Paris Agreement will enter
into force on 4 November 2016, 30 days after the thresholds of 55 countries,
representing 55 percent of global emissions, depositing their instruments of
ratification with the Secretary-General of the United Nations. As of 24th
October 2016, 83 countries and the European Union have joined the
Agreement. Ireland is currently undergoing its domestic ratification process
with a view to its finalisation in advance of COP 22 in Marrakesh. The matter is
to be debated in the Dáil on Thursday 27th October.
COM (2016) 482
The objective of the proposal, which follows on a from a similar proposal for
the period up to 2020 is that all Member States would have national emission
targets for 2030 expressed as a percentage reduction from 2005 emission
levels as well as access to new flexibilities to achieve those targets cost
effectively. Collectively, these national targets will give an overall EU reduction
of 30% with the range of targets to range from 0% to -40% compared to 2005
levels.
The proposal recognises different capacities of Member States to take action
by differentiating targets according to GDP per capita across Member States.
This methodology is to ensure fairness in respect of higher income Member
States taking on more ambitious targets than lower income Member States.
There was also recognition that an approach based solely on relative
GDP/capita could result in relatively high costs for Member states. To address
this, it was decided that Member States with an above average GDP per capita
should be relatively adjusted to reflect cost-effectiveness in a fair and balanced
manner.
The proposal not only sets national targets, but also provides a number of
flexibilities to allow for a fair and cost-efficient achievement of the targets. In
particular two new flexibilities are introduced, one relating to the ETS sector
and the other in respect of the Land Use and Land Use Change & Forestry
(LULUCF) Sector which is covered below. The flexibility on ETS allows eligible
Member States to use some ETS allowances in the non ETS sectors. These
allowances would normally be auctioned so revenue generated from these
auctions would be foregone if such a flexibility was chosen.
The proposal provides other flexibility in the form of annual emission
allocations (AEAs) to address cost-effectiveness. In years where emissions are
lower than their annual emission allocations (AEAs), Member States can bank
any surplus AEAs and use them in later years when limits are lower. In years
where emissions are higher than the annual limit, they can borrow AEAs from
the following year. Member States can also buy and sell allocations from and
to other Member States.
It is important to remember that targets established in the proposal are for
each year in the 10 year period up to 2030. The limit for each year is set
according to a decreasing linear trajectory. The proposal sets the starting point
as the average emissions in 2016-2018 which follows a similar methodology to
the previous proposal for the period up to 2020.
The proposal also contains annual reporting and compliance obligations for the
period 2021-2030 which again reflects the methodology used for 2020.
However in order to reduce administrative burden a comprehensive review of
Member States' performance will be organised every 5 years, rather than
annually, thus aligning with the 5-year review cycle set out in the Paris
Agreement. Where a Member State still does not meet its annual obligation in
any year the shortfall is multiplied by a factor of 1.08 and added to the
following year's obligation.
Summary Headlines for Ireland
The following should be noted in terms of what Commission Proposal suggests
for Ireland:
 The proposal gives a reduction target of 39% based on GDP adjusted
downwards by 9 percentage points towards a cost effective point to
give a headline target of – 30%.
 An allowance is offered for Ireland to use credits from net
afforestation LULUCF up to a cap equivalent to 5.6% of 2005
emissions (2.7 Mt CO2eq per annum).
 The Proposal offers a one-off transfer of credits from the ETS sector
to the non-ETS sector, up to a cap equivalent to 4% of 2005
emissions (1.9 Mt CO2eq per annum).
COM 479 - LULUCF
New flexibility to access credits from the land use sector
In order to stimulate additional action in the land use sector, the proposal
permits Member States to use up to 280 million credits over the entire period
2021-2030 from certain land use categories to comply with their national
targets. All Member States are eligible to make use of this flexibility, while
access is higher for Member States with a larger share of emissions from
agriculture. This is in line with the EU Council Conclusions of October 2014. The
Conclusions contain a package of important principles regarding non-ETS in
paragraphs 2.10-2.141. They accept some critical principles as regards
agriculture and the land use sector including the inclusion of LULUCF into the
2030 framework and recognise the lower mitigation potential of the agriculture
sector.
Proposed Land Use, Land-Use Change (LULUCF) Flexibility
Ireland secured the highest level of use of potential credits at 5.6% of non-ETS
(Emissions Trading Sector) emissions in 2005 or 26.8 million tonnes of CO2 over
the period 2021–2030. It equates to approximately 14% of agriculture
emissions in 2005. The land categories included in LULUCF Proposal are:
 Afforested land
1
Paragraph 2.14
“The multiple objectives of the agriculture and land use sector, with their lower mitigation potential,
should be acknowledged, as well as the need to ensure coherence between the EU's food security
and climate change objectives. The European Council invites the Commission to examine the best
means of encouraging the sustainable intensification of food production, while optimising the
sector's contribution to greenhouse gas mitigation and sequestration, including through
afforestation. Policy on how to include Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry into the 2030
greenhouse gas mitigation framework will be established as soon as technical conditions allow and
in any case before 2020.”
 Deforested land
 Managed cropland
 Managed grassland
 Managed forest land
 Managed wetland
For the proposed flexibility the first four land uses are included.
Potential from Afforestation
Analysis suggests the mitigation potential from afforestation under the new
accounting method proposed which includes a 30 year transition period, is 2.2
million tonnes/annum CO2. Afforestation prior to 2021 will be by far the
greatest component of the 2021 to 2030 forest carbon sink.
The balance of 0.5 million tonnes/annum to fully avail of the LULUCF flexibility
is anticipated to come from an increase in soil carbon stocks in Managed
Cropland and Grassland. We have voluntarily elected to account for these
components for the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol (KP2),
2013-2020, in order to gain experience in reporting soil carbon stock changes.
Teagasc analysis has identified four potential activities:
Improved grassland management – Increasing carbon inputs through biomass
enhancement (grass species selection, appropriate grazing intensities) and
decreasing carbon losses from soils (improving the soil structure) contribute
towards achieving the objectives of this action. Additionally, optimised soil
fertility can enhance the soil carbon pool through additional sequestration. This
has synergies with improved nitrogen use efficiency which can reduce N2O
emissions. Soil analysis indicates that fertility is sub optimal in 90% of soil test
results.
Reduced management intensity of organic-rich agricultural soils – initially this
action will focus on 30kha to 50kha of Natura 2000 designated organic rich
agricultural soils. There are up to 300kha of organic-rich agricultural soils which
would increase the potential of this measure. Less drainage and disturbance of
these areas result in a higher retention of soil carbon by reducing losses of CO2
and in some cases aid sequestration of carbon.
Cover crops – fallow management crops between commercial crops focusing on
50% of arable area. Normal practice is natural regeneration to provide a green
cover between crops. This enhances soil organic matter (soil carbon) build-up
in soil and reduces N leaching over the winter period.
Straw incorporation – aim to incorporate all straw residues on 50% of arable
area. Normal practice is to bale straw residues for animal bedding or dietary
feeding strategy. This activity maintains soil organic matter content, with the
resulting benefits in soil structure and water retention, which in turn increases
soil carbon.
Wetland - Draining and Rewetting (WDR)
WDR is included as an elective activity under the Kyoto Protocol and the
LULUCF decision of 529 of 2013, and under the LULUCF proposal. WDR is
restricted to organic soils not reported under the other land uses Most of these
areas are classified as Wetlands (managed or unmanaged) or Other Lands
(unmanaged) in the national greenhouse gas inventory. The management of
these lands is outside the remit of DAFM.
Reaching the proposed flexibility will be a challenge
It will be challenging to meet the ESR Proposal targets. On the soil carbon side
it will entail ongoing investments in the measures outlined, allied to continued
support for agriculture and forest research to capture the full greenhouse gas
impacts of land activities. In agriculture, the Commission is proposing to
address the lower mitigation potential of agriculture by providing for flexibility
from the LULUCF sector, capped at 5.6% of 2005 emissions.
General comments – LULUCF and land use sector
LULUCF activities are not an offset but land-based climate change mitigation
measures undertaken at a cost – for example afforestation of agricultural land
has an estimated cost of €3.5bn from 1990 to 2030.
The use of net afforestation LULUCF adds to the limited mitigation potential
from the agriculture sector and is part of an overall land sector approach. This
is of particular importance in Ireland where a third of greenhouse gas
emissions arise from agriculture.
Policy needs to allow farmers participate in practices that can deliver towards
the fulfillment of environmental goals whilst increasing productivity. This can
be achieved through knowledge transfer and good husbandry practices as well
as incentives for adopting resource efficient production practices.
Land management practices can make a substantial contribution to reducing
greenhouse gas emissions and increasing removals of carbon from the
atmosphere. Crossover’s can also take place in relation to other environmental
objectives such as improved water quality and biodiversity management via
the establishment and maintenance of landscape features, such as hedgerows.
The complexity and interactions of land management practices must be
recognised and action where land use can be best optimised rewarded.
Support for the RDP and Teagasc activities is key to providing the enabling
environment to support mobilising abatement opportunities.
Ireland’s 2020 Targets
For each year between 2013 and 2020, Ireland has a greenhouse gas (GHG)
emission reduction target under the 2009 Effort Sharing Decision (ESD) No.
406/2009/EC. For the year 2020 itself, the target set for Ireland is that
emissions should be 20 per cent below their value in 2005. This is jointly the
most demanding 2020 reduction target allocated under the ESD and one
shared only by Denmark and Luxembourg. The 2013 target is based on the
average of emissions for the years 2008-2010. The target for each of the years
2014 through 2019 is on a straight-line trajectory between the targets for 2013
and 2020, and surpluses in one year can be used to cover deficits in any
subsequent year. The average incidence of these targets is a 12% reduction
relative to 2005.
In terms of the gap to target, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
produces national GHG emission projections on an annual basis. The latest
projections, published in March 2016, projected emissions for 2020 which
indicate that Ireland’s emissions at that stage could be in the range of 6-11%
below 2005 levels under the With Measures and With Additional Measures
scenarios respectively. On a cumulative basis, Ireland will have a deficit of
between 3 and 12 Mt Carbon Dioxide Equivalent (MtCO2e). The projections
suggest that Ireland may have a cumulative deficit of units in 2018 under a
With Measures scenario.
 With Measures scenario assumes that no additional policies and
measures, beyond those already in place by the end of 2014, are
implemented.
 The With Additional Measures scenario assumes implementation of
existing measures and planned policies and measures. It assumes that,
for example, renewable fuels and energy efficiency targets for 2020, as
set out in the National Renewable Energy Action Plan and the National
Energy Efficiency Action Plan will be fully implemented.
National Response
In terms of putting in place a plan to manage our transition to a low carbon
economy and to meet our EU and international obligations, in accordance with
Section 4 of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015, a
National Mitigation Plan (NMP) will be submitted to Government for approval
by June 2017 at the latest.
The preparation of the National Mitigation Plan is statutorily designed to be a
whole-of-Government approach to tackling greenhouse gas emissions. In
particular, each Minister with responsibility for the largest emitting sectors
(namely, agriculture, transport, electricity and the built environment) will be
required by Government to develop sectoral mitigation measures for inclusion
in the Plan.
Development of the NMP is being guided by a long-term vision of low carbon
transition as set out in the National Policy Position on Climate Action and Low
Carbon Development 2014, based on:
 an aggregate reduction in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions of at least 80%
(compared to 1990 levels) by 2050 across the electricity generation, built
environment and transport sectors; and
 in parallel, an approach to carbon neutrality in the agriculture and landuse sector, including forestry, which does not compromise capacity for
sustainable food production.
The ultimate objective of successive 5-yearly NMPs is to incrementally achieve
the above low-carbon transition vision by 2050. In that context, the NMP will
have regard to Ireland’s obligations under the current 2009 Effort Sharing
Decision, the Paris Agreement and any likely future EU and international
obligations that may arise, including new national targets to be agreed under
the 2030 Climate and Energy Package.
The first iteration of the NMP will place particular focus on tracking
implementation of measures already underway, putting in place the necessary
measures to address the challenge to 2020 and also on planning ahead to
ensure that appropriate policies and measures are in place beyond that.
Work on this task is well underway by all Departments concerned covering
agriculture, transport, electricity and built environment sectors. Departments
with responsibility for the four largest emitting sectors are currently developing
sectoral mitigation measures in tandem with Strategic Environmental
Assessment (SEA) and Appropriate Assessment (AA) processes and financial
analysis during which measures will be further developed and prioritised.
A draft NMP is expected to be made available for public consultation before the
end of the year.
Climate change adaptation is also an urgent policy priority. Notwithstanding
any success in limiting and then reducing greenhouse gas emissions, our planet
will take time to recover from the gases already in the atmosphere. Ireland’s
2015 Act provides for the development of a national adaptation framework
which will specify the national strategy for the application of measures in key
sectors in order to reduce our vulnerability to the negative effects of climate
change. Relevant Ministers will also be required to develop sectoral adaptation
plans, which will specify the adaptation policy measures the Minister in
question proposes to adopt. A new National Adaptation Framework is to be
completed by December 2017.