Consultation on the development of Ireland's Social Climate Plan

The aim of this consultation is to gather stakeholder feedback to support the development of Ireland's Social Climate Plan.

The Social Climate Fund is the first EU fund developed with the explicit purpose of alleviating potential energy and transport poverty occurring from the transition towards clean mobility and a decarbonised built environment.

The Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment (DCEE) is currently developing a national Social Climate Plan which will set out measures to be co-financed from the EU Social Climate Fund over the period 2026 to 2032.

Survey on the development of Ireland's Social Climate Plan

The Green Transition involves a mechanism called carbon pricing. Carbon pricing puts a price on greenhouse gas emissions to incentivise consumers to make greener choices and lower their emissions over the longer term. In Ireland, this takes the form of a carbon tax on consumer fossil fuel purchases, and a requirement on large emitters to purchase emissions permits as part of the EU Emissions Trading System. Carbon prices are gradually increased over time which contributes to higher fossil fuel prices and can make certain aspects of life, such as transport and heating for homes and businesses, more expensive. Over the longer term, Irish people will have a much more sustainable, secure and efficient transport and heating system, but the transition can be difficult and impacts people unevenly.

In July 2021, the European Commission published the Fit for 55 package, a set of proposals to revise EU legislation with the aim of ensuring EU policies are in line with the Union's climate goals. Included in this package was a proposal to extend the existing EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) to include the buildings and road transport sectors (ETS II). The increase in price of fossil fuels due to the introduction of ETS II is likely to have a disproportionate negative impact on vulnerable households, vulnerable microenterprises and vulnerable transport users. Consequently, the Fit for 55 package also included the proposal to establish the Social Climate Fund using a portion of the auction revenues generated by ETS II.

As part of Regulation (EU) 2023/955, which provides for the establishment of a Social Climate Fund, all EU Member States are required to prepare a Social Climate Plan. These plans will set out the programmes in the period 2026-2032 that are aimed at addressing the social and distributional effects of fossil fuel price increases arising from the increase in the price of carbon in the buildings and road transport sectors. Over the lifetime of the plan (2026-2032), Ireland can recoup up to 75% of the cost of eligible measures within the plan (to a maximum of €663 million) from the EU Social Climate Fund. The focus of the plan is investment in long-lasting, socially fair measures aimed at supporting those who may be most vulnerable to energy and transport poverty arising from our transition towards clean mobility and a decarbonised built environment.

We are committed to developing robust and high-quality measures, guided by meaningful stakeholder input, to ensure that the funds are appropriately targeted to those most vulnerable. In this context, two consultation processes at key points in the development of the plan are planned.

The first of those is this open public and stakeholder consultation which shall run for a period of six weeks.

In this consultation, we are setting out a number of options which could potentially be funded under the Regulation. It is important to note that this is not a list of areas that have been agreed for funding. DCEE wants to hear the views from all interested parties on how the plan can be best developed to ensure that the investments will:

• be allocated to the most appropriate supports for those most vulnerable to rising fossil fuel prices
• be socially fair, and
• provide long lasting support solutions

This consultation is open to all in Irish society. In particular, we would like to hear from local and regional authorities, representatives of economic and social partners, relevant civil society organisations, youth organisations, individuals from the Irish public who wish to express their opinion on what measures should be developed to support vulnerable groups impacted by the rising price of carbon, and stakeholders, businesses, organisations, representative bodies and other groups which are impacted by the rising price of carbon, or represent vulnerable groups which are impacted by the rising price of carbon.

Following the input received from this consultation, DCEE will further develop and refine proposed measures to incorporate into the draft plan. This will be followed by a public event, hosted by DCEE with attendance by European Commission officials. At this event, the full draft plan will be presented along with information on outcomes from this consultation and elaboration on how the stakeholder input is reflected in the draft plan. Attendees will have the opportunity to provide further insights at this event for consideration in the final draft plan. This final draft plan will be submitted to government for approval in advance of its submission to the Commission for its final approval before the end of this year.

Responses to this consultation must be received in full by the department through the EUSurvey website set out above no later than 5.30pm on Thursday, 23 October 2025.

Responses will also be accepted in hard copy format and via email.

Responses submitted by email or by hard copy should be clearly entitled "Consultation on Social Climate Plan" and sent to scp@dcee.gov.ie or posted to:

Just Transition and Sectoral Policies Section

Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment

Tom Johnson House

Haddington Road

Dublin 4

D04 K7X4

We are committed to engaging with stakeholders in a clear, open and transparent manner. Any person or organisation can make a submission in relation to this consultation. All submissions and feedback will be considered before the final version of the plan will be submitted to the Commission.

Please note that responses to this consultation are subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2014 (FOI), Access to Information on the Environment Regulations 2007-2018 (AIE) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

Please also note that we may publish the contents of all submissions received to our consultation on our website. We will redact personal data prior to publication. In responding to this consultation, parties should clearly indicate where their responses contain personal information, commercially sensitive information, or confidential information which they would not wish to be released under FOI, AIE or otherwise published.

We would like to draw your attention to our Data Privacy Notice which explains how and when we collect personal data, why we do so and how we treat this information. It also explains your rights in relation to the collection of personal information and how you can exercise those rights.