Horizon Europe and the European Green Deal identified through MaREI mapping exercises

The Oireachtas Library & Research Service in collaboration with Dr Paul Deane, Senior Research Fellow at the MaREI Centre for Energy, Climate and Marine and the ERI, has published an overview of the European Green Deal and its implications for Ireland. The Green Deal is one of the EU’s flagship initiatives for the next five years and beyond as it acts to meet the goal of becoming the first climate-neutral bloc in the world by 2050. The Green Deal is framed as a new growth strategy and roadmap for making the EU’s economy sustainable and enabling it to achieve its commitment under the Paris Agreement.

The outgoing Government published their Climate Action Plan in June 2019, which built on the work of the Joint Committee on Climate Action and Citizens’ Assembly, and also published the Draft General Scheme of the Climate Action (Amendment) Bill 2019 in January 2020. It is likely that climate legislation will again feature as part of the new Dáil with Ireland also due to submit both its delayed National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) and Long-Term Strategy (LTS) on Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction to the European Commission at some point in 2020.

In the compiling of this report, Dr Deane and colleagues examined key research questions such as:

1. What are the key elements of the European Green Deal?

2. What parts of the Green Deal have the strongest implications for Ireland?

3. What is the current policy position on a 2050 greenhouse gas emissions target for Ireland and what might climate neutrality by 2050 look like?

4. What does the EU Climate Law mean for existing policies and the EU’s greenhouse gas emission reduction target for 2030?

To read more about the Greed Deal follow the link: Here