Ireland facing €13m bill for not reaching GHGs targets
Low Emission Slurry Spreading (LESS) is helping to reduce emissions in Ireland but despite this, targets have not been reached. File Picture.
The EU’s Effort Sharing Decision law set national emission targets for 2020, expressed as percentage changes from 2005 levels.
It required Ireland to reduce emissions from sectors such as agriculture, transport, buildings, and waste 20% below their value in 2005, by 2020.
The latest report published by the EPA, in January 2021, indicated these emissions could be 8% below 2005 levels, by 2020.
Thus Ireland exceeded the carbon budget by 11-12 million tonnes.
The Effort Sharing Decision allows Member States to meet their targets by means of unused emissions allowances from earlier years, or through purchasing allowances from other Member States or on international markets.
The additional costs of purchasing carbon credits for compliance with these targets are between €6 million and €13 million.
Now, the EU’s Effort Sharing Regulation (ESR) for sectors such as agriculture, transport, buildings, and waste sets Ireland a target of 30% reduction in emissions by 2030 compared to 2005 levels (but this target will eventually be amended in line with the European Council’s decision to increase from the EU-wide 2030 target of a 40% reduction to at least 55%).
In meeting the 30% target, flexibilities of up to 26.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent are associated with land use over the period 2021 to 2030 (the Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry LULUCF Regulation).
This means EU Member States must ensure that greenhouse gas emissions from the land-use sector are offset by at least an equivalent removal of carbon dioxide from the sector for the period 2021 to 2030.
For example, if a Member State converts forests to other land uses (deforestation), it must compensate for the resulting emissions by planting new forests (afforestation) or by improving the sustainable management of existing forests, croplands, grasslands, or wetlands.
Should Ireland satisfy this “no debit rule”, Ireland can avail of credits through additional removals in the LULUCF sectors that may be transferred to assist in meeting the ESR target.
