The Green Party has welcomed the publication of the Climate Action (Amendment) Bill 2020.

Following on from commitments in the Programme for Government to achieve an average 7% per annum reduction in overall greenhouse gas emissions over the next decade, the Climate Action Bill commits Ireland, in law, to achieving carbon neutrality by the year 2050.

Chair of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action, and Green Party Spokesperson for Climate Action Brian Leddin TD said: "The Climate Action (Amendment) Bill is a comprehensive implementation of the climate governance recommendations from the Citizen's Assembly and the special Joint Oireachtas Committee. Specifically, the net-zero target by 2050, the requirement for carbon budgets, and the new Climate Action Council all came from recommendations from the cross-party Oireachtas committee and the Citizen's Assembly.

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"This Bill gives us the framework for sustained climate action. It empowers the Oireachtas, and in particular the relevant Climate Committee, to hold the government of the day to account. It will force both the government and our local authorities to comprehensively plan and implement a pathway to an Ireland that will have net zero emissions by 2050.

"This bill is one of the most critically important steps in this government’s response to the climate emergency, and it is a vital step which will compel the government, and future governments, to act by setting carbon budgets for each sector, and mandating a climate action plan, to be revised every year, to achieve compliance with those budgets. It will serve as the foundation for the government’s plan to reduce emissions by 51%, or 7% a year, over the next ten years."