Ministers O’Brien, Noonan and Burke welcome Climate Action Plan 2021

The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O’Brien TD, and his departmental colleagues Minister of State with responsibility for Local Government and Planning, Peter Burke TD, and Minister of State for Heritage and Electoral Reform Malcolm Noonan TD, have welcomed the publication of the Climate Action Plan 2021. The Department has committed to actions across diverse areas such as planning systems, wind energy, climate science, climate services, social housing retrofitting and peatlands restoration to deliver the Climate Action Plan for the years ahead.
Highlight actions include:
Planning
 

•         The National Planning Framework has embedded the policy of compact growth into the overall strategy for the country. Each Regional Assembly through their Regional, Spatial and Economic Strategy has now implemented that policy. Further to this, a number of tailored actions have been included in CAP 21 to ensure that the planning system continues to build on its response to climate action, including:  

 

•    The implementation of climate actions in the National Planning Framework will be examined by a working group to ensure it delivers optimal outcomes for climate action.

 

•    Climate adaptation and climate action plans will be taken account of in the preparation of City and County Development Plans, in accordance with the updated Section 28 Development Plan Guidelines, currently being finalised.

Housing
 
The actions in Housing for All, our new housing plan for Ireland have been developed to support the targets and objectives of the Climate Action Plan, setting out a pathway to economic, societal and environmental sustainability in the delivery of housing. Highlight actions include:
 

•         Rollout the Social Housing National Retrofitting Programme which aims to retrofit 36,500 local authority dwellings by 2030, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the residential sector, with retrofitted properties required to reach BER B2 or equivalent. A €20 million budget increase to €85 million in 2022 will see approximately 2,400 units delivered under the programme.
•         Introduce a minimum BER rating requirement for private rental properties where feasible from 2025, in line with the commitment in the Housing for All Plan.
•         Nearly Zero Energy Building (NZEB) regulations will ensure that all homes built in the future will meet advanced energy performance standards whilst also providing comfortable, healthy homes with reduced carbon emissions.
•         Maximising the use of our existing housing stock, especially in our towns and cities, through the Croí Cónaithe (Towns) Fund to support the refurbishment of vacant homes and a new Local Authority-led programme for the CPO of vacant properties for resale on the open market.

 
Wind energy and marine planning
 

•         The National Marine Planning Framework (NMPF), Ireland’s first statutory Marine Spatial Plan, was established in 2021 and sets out the State’s objectives and policies, including those in relation to climate change adaptation and mitigation. In addition, management of Ireland’s maritime area is being reformed through the Maritime Area Planning (MAP) Bill. This bill is currently progressing through the Oireachtas.
•         A new Maritime Area Regulatory Authority (MARA) will be established through the MAP Bill, to support a comprehensive, State-led marine planning system better able to manage the step change in scale and complexity of offshore projects, with provisions for improved enforcement and better coordination mechanisms.

 
Water management
 

•         A River Basin Management Plan, currently out for public consultation, will be launched in 2022, providing an overall strategy for the protection and improvement of Ireland’s waters

 
 
Biodiversity and peatlands restoration
 
-        Restore/rewet raised bog Special Areas of Conservation and Natural Heritage Areas as set out in the National Raised Bog Special Areas of Conservation Management Plan 2017-2022. Such restoration measures, and hydrological management of our protected peatlands, will halt and reduce peat oxidation and carbon loss
-        The Department is supporting the Peatlands and People project, with a budget of €10 million,  which aims to  significantly reduce carbon emissions through restoration and other land management activities

•         The fourth National Biodiversity Action Plan will be published in 2022.
•         The NPWS Local Authority Biodiversity Grant Scheme provided €1.35m in funding this year to assist Local Authorities in carrying out actions in the National Biodiversity Action Plan 2017-2021, including projects tackling invasive alien species and raising biodiversity awareness.

 
Built heritage
 

•         The National Monuments Service and Built Heritage Policy will continue to implement the actions of the Climate Change Sectoral Adaptation Plan for Built and Archaeological Heritage.

 

•         Built Heritage Policy will publish guidance for improving the energy efficiency of Ireland’s traditional buildings. The guidance will provide advice on upgrading domestic and non-domestic buildings to professional users (such as specifiers and installers) while being accessible to a wide audience.

 
 
Met Éireann and Climate Science
 
-        As a Division of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Met Éireann will continue to inform climate change policy by implementing a climate science programme to understand, analyse and model Ireland’s past, current and future climate and to support climate change impact planning and decision-making by developing and coordinating climate services. Such activities include developing state-of-the-art Earth system climate modelling, standardising national climate projections, leading Ireland’s Global Climate Observing System (GCOS), delivering more than 80 automated climate monitoring stations, building flood forecasting capability in support of the National Flood Forecasting Warning Service (NFFWS), developing climate maps for use in building design, supporting National Emergency Management during extreme weather events.
 
Speaking this afternoon, Minister O’Brien said:
“The Government’s Climate Action Plan 2021 demonstrates our commitment to meaningful action to address climate change. My Department has today committed to action across housing, planning, marine, weather and climate services, and natural heritage protection to help Ireland on its path to carbon neutrality by 2050. I particularly welcome the progress made to date in ensuring energy-efficient housing stock, through our social housing retrofitting programmes. Energy-efficiency in our building standards and improvements to our existing housing stock are crucial to our efforts to tackle climate change. Having just recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe for the High Performance Building Alliance I am particularly glad that Ireland will now be part of a UNECE Network of Centres of Excellence for High Performing Buildings, demonstrating our commitment to the highest standards of energy efficiency for Ireland’s buildings.
 
Meaningful action on climate change is informed by data and the translation of this data into the knowledge and tools needed for users to make decisions on climate impacts (so-called “climate services”). In this context, Met Éireann’s scientists are central to Ireland’s efforts to address climate change. By providing the intelligence and data on how our climate is changing, by developing and coordinating the provision of climate services, working with national and international partners, Met Éireann provides insights that can inform policy and actions taken right across Government, particularly as we plan for future extreme weather.”
 
Minister of State for Heritage and Electoral Reform, Malcolm Noonan TD, spoke about the role of protecting our natural heritage in taking action against climate change.
“The climate crisis and the biodiversity crisis are intrinsically linked: climate change causes biodiversity loss through droughts, floods, fires, changes in the distribution of species, the spread of pests, diseases and invasives, and ecological disruption in terms of the timing of the growing season, bud burst, fruit ripening, egg laying and hatching, and migration. Biodiversity loss also causes climate change: decades of wetland drainage for peat extraction and inappropriate afforestation have resulted in degraded bogs that actually emit carbon instead of store it. But while the problems are linked, so too are the solutions.
My Department continues to work with its partners across Government, State Agencies, Local Authorities, landowners, farmers and community groups to protect, enhance and restore habitats across Ireland, including our precious peatlands. This Government is also investing in nature to a level not seen since before the financial crisis, with a 64% increase in funding for the National Parks and Wildlife Service since 2020. Nature is our first and best line of defence against a changing climate and a vital ally in terms of climate mitigation. I look forward to continuing to work with our partners to progress this Government’s unprecedented ambition for nature and the climate.”
Minister of State for Planning and Local Government, Peter Burke TD, spoke of the Department’s role in reforming the planning system as part of decarbonisation.
“The importance of Ireland’s planning system in addressing climate change is clear in today’s Climate Action Plan. In the area of maritime planning and the facilitation of offshore wind energy, the emerging plan-led system is providing a foundation for climate measures, such as meeting renewable energy targets through offshore renewable energy installation, and identifying ways that all activities in the maritime area can contribute to carbon reduction and adaptation measures
 
Many local authorities are in the process of reviewing their development plans and are focussed on integrating compact growth which, once completed, signifies a significant step-change in planning policy from national to regional and local. Climate change measures as well as renewable energy targets now also form a key consideration in development plans”.