Climate Action Plan

16. Deputy Jennifer Whitmore asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment when he expects to publish the Climate Action Plan 2026; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [65428/26]

21. Deputy Roderic O'Gorman asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment for an update on the planned publication of the Climate Action Plan 2026. [65687/26]

45. Deputy Ciarán Ahern asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment for an update on the status of the Climate Action Plan 2026; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [65972/26]

Today is 17 September and no climate action plan for 2026 has been published. I ask for an update on when the Minister will publish the climate action plan for this year or if he plans to publish one this year.

I propose to take Questions Nos. 16, 21 and 45 together.

I will always take your direction, a Chathaoirligh Gníomhach. The Government is committed to delivering on Ireland’s responsibility to address the climate crisis and work remains ongoing across government to implement climate mitigation measures every day. We have a robust climate delivery framework and detailed plans in place across all sectors. The priority is driving implementation, particularly of high-impact measures with multiple societal and economic benefits. The EPA's latest provisional greenhouse gas emissions inventory, published in July, shows that this is working. Ireland recorded overall emissions reductions for a fourth consecutive year. All main sectors saw reductions in 2025. The Green Party's time in government was helpful in ensuring we remain on that trajectory. Emissions from energy industries decreased for the fourth consecutive year, by 7.1% in 2025, to an all-time low as investment in renewables continues to reduce emissions. Emissions from buildings decreased by 4.7% and tonnes of CO2 per household are at their lowest recorded level. In addition, other sectors also showed reductions with the industry sector emissions down by 3.3%, transport down by 1.5% and agriculture down by 0.2%. Significantly, the EPA's report shows that the first carbon budget has now been achieved on the back of these record emissions reductions. Ireland now has the lowest level of greenhouse gas emissions in 36 years which is notable given a concurrent population increase of approximately 1.5 million people, more than 1 million new homes and over 1 million extra vehicles on our roads. Given the strong economic growth over this period, we can now see a clear decoupling of growth from emissions which is a key milestone in Ireland's transition to climate neutrality.

It is 17 September and there is still no climate action plan for 2026. The idea behind the climate action plan was that on the one hand we have the five-year carbon budgets making the big economy-wide changes but on the other hand we had to have accountability for what was being done on an annual basis. Those of us in the Opposition, environmental NGOs and the public need to see on an annual basis if the Government is actually passing the measures and implementing the steps that will make those big five-year economy-wide changes possible. We had a series of climate action plans published annually so the Government could be held to account. That is the fundamental problem with the Government's failure to publish the climate action plan for this year: it cannot be held to account. The Minister of State can give his answers with these great five-year plans for the future but what confidence do we have that they will be achieved when we do not know what is to be done in 2026?

We have been waiting for a long time. We were told the plan would be published by the end of quarter 3. I heard the Minister refer to the plan for 2026 being published by the end of October as well as the plan for 2027. It would be very welcome if the Minister of State could confirm that. It is better late than never that the Government is getting its act together. This is about transforming our theoretical targets into practical measures for Departments and Ministers. We cannot hold those Ministers to account unless we know what they are actually trying to do.

Work on finalising the draft of the next update to the climate action plan is currently under way, with the climate action plan programme board providing guidance and oversight of the development of the update. Officials from Departments with responsibility for key sectors have been actively engaged in the process and are working on finalising the update to the plan. Public consultation on the plan closed last month, with more than 270 submissions received. Officials are carefully considering the views and priorities raised by the public to ensure that they meaningfully inform the next plan. Publication of the plan is expected later this year. This plan will be more focussed and will identify strategic climate priorities that will shape our approach to closing the gap to 2030 and include a range of new actions to support mitigation in all key sectors. In the meantime, the roll-out of retrofitting measures, renewable energy deployment and more affordable electric vehicles continues at increasing pace. The climate action plans for 2024 and 2025, which build on the series of preceding plans, remain in place and provide a strong framework for delivery of climate action to 2030. Many of their commitments are multi-annual in nature and we will continue to focus on accelerating their delivery.