THE GOVERNMENT PLANS to submit a long-term climate strategy to the European Commission this week – three years late.

In 2018, EU states were given 13 months to develop a 30-year strategy with their plans to tackle the climate crisis and submit them to the European Commission by 1 January 2020. Years later, Ireland is one of only a handful of countries that has not yet submitted its strategy.

Minister for Climate Eamon Ryan brought the strategy to a meeting of Cabinet today where he received approval to publish the file on Thursday and submit it to the European Commission.

However, the government also intends to prepare an additional, updated version of the strategy that will not reach the EU until at least the end of the year.

In February, the Department of Environment told The Journal that it planned to submit a draft to the Commission by the end of March.

In September, the European Commission opened formal infringement proceedings against Ireland and the other three member states due to delays in submitting the strategies.

The Department of Environment prepared a draft version of the strategy in 2019 but its submission was “paused” due to an increase in climate ambition in the subsequent Programme for Government, according to a government statement.

The Programme for Government was developed after the 2020 general election during coalition negotiations between Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and the Green Party, which took power in June of that year.

A public consultation was also held in 2019 which will be submitted to the EU Commission along with the strategy.

The government statement said that the Department of Environment considers it “prudent” to carry out further public consultation now following the Climate Act that passed in 2021.

“For this reason, the strategy that will be submitted imminently to the Commission will be used as the basis for launching a public consultation to prepare an updated strategy by the end of 2023,” it said.

“The updated Strategy will then be published in line with the provisions set out by our national, and EU legislation.”

The strategy will identify “pathways for a whole-of-society transformation, beyond 2030, towards decarbonisation to 2050″.

“Disruptions in certain sectors of the economy will be unavoidable but the transition to a climate neutral economy is projected to be a core driver of economic development over the next three decades and will help to reduce the overall operating expenditure requirements of the economy, creating a net cost-benefit.”

The delay came despite the Climate Change Advisory Council (CCAC) warning in 2021 that it was concerned, in the absence of the strategy, about the potential for “higher cost implications of delay in long-term action”.

The European Commission has outlined that “stable long-term strategies are crucial to help achieve the economic transformation needed and broader sustainable development goals”.

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They are also crucial, according to the Commission, to moving “towards the long-term goal set by the Paris Agreement – holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C”.

Cabinet also approved the publication of Ireland’s first National Clean Air Strategy, which is set to be released tomorrow.

The strategy will provide a policy framework to identify and promote measures to reduce air pollution.

A public consultation on the strategy was first held back in 2017 but was not followed by the publication of the strategy in the subsequent years. A second consultation was then held in March 2022.

Key priorities will be “to ensure continuous improvements in air quality across the country” and “to guarantee the integration of clean air considerations into policy development across Government”.

The strategy will also be used “to increase the evidence-base that will help us to continue to evolve our understanding of the sources of pollution in order to address them more effectively; to enhance regulation and improve the effectiveness of our enforcement systems; and to promote and increase awareness of the importance of clean air”.