Framework

for

Climate Change Bill 2010

Page

Minister’s Foreword1.Introduction12.Policies and Principles43.Targets54.National Climate Change Strategy65.Carbon Budget76.Climate Change Committee107.Climate Change Adaptation128.Domestic Carbon Offsetting Scheme149.Monitoring and Reporting 1510.Next Steps16Glossary of Terms17

Contents

Playing our part in the global effort to tackle climate changewill be one of the most important things Ireland as a countrywill do over the next half a century.Climate change is the single greatest challenge facinghumanity, and it will only be through concerted effort on thepart of all countries that we can hope to meet that challengesuccessfully.But taking the steps to tackle climate change will also bevitally important for the future prosperity of Ireland. Weknow that the global economy is being constrained by the peaking of oil supplies.A sustainable, prosperous future for Ireland will be absolutely dependant on our ability tomove quickly and successfully to a low carbon economy and society.This is why this Government believes a climate change law to be so important. It will act asthe bedrock on which this country’s long-term response to climate change will be based.Today the Government is publishing a framework for that legislation, which maps out theaims of the legislation and its principal provisions.We want to make sure that this legislation will not just enshrine the policies and principlesto reflect the core national objective of combating climate change in the pursuit of asustainable, low carbon economy, but will also act as a driver towards achieving thatobjective across all sectors of society in Ireland.This framework document clearly sets out the Government’s ambitions for the ClimateChange Bill and is a first step in the process of developing the Bill. I will be publishing theHeads of the Bill before the end of the first quarter of 2010 which will outline the detailedprovisions of the proposed Bill.From its formation the Government has recognised the urgency of the challenge of ClimateChange and has been very ambitious in its response to this challenge. This ambition isreflected in the Framework document through the setting of the 3% annual emissionreduction target outlined in the Programme for Government and extending this out to2020. Ireland has already committed to an 80 – 95% target for 2050 in the context of the