Consultation on the draft update to Ireland’s integrated National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP)

The Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications held a webinar on the draft National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) 2021-2030 on Thursday, 20 June at 4pm. There were 115 attendees present at this webinar, and officials from both the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications and other departments involved in the preparation of the updated plan presented material and answered questions from attendees regarding the contents of the plan and the process of its development.

Ireland’s updated NECP was submitted to the European Commission on 22 July 2024. The NECP was revised and developed revised to incorporate comments from the Commission, public consultation and updated policies and targets. The final document is available here.

The Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications invites you to our webinar on the draft National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) 2021-2030 on Thursday, 20 June at 4pm. The draft NECP brings together Ireland’s energy and climate targets and initiatives under EU legislation into one framework.

Please follow this link to register to attend the webinar.

Please ensure you register and log in with your full name in case we need to unmute your microphone during the Q&A session.

The aim of this consultation is to gather stakeholder feedback on aspects of the draft update to Ireland’s National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP).

The NECP collates the policies, measures and actions related to energy and climate outlined in a range of government plans: such as the Climate Action Plan, the National Development Plan, and Project Ireland 2040, into one cohesive document. It also presents modelling that illustrates Ireland’s current trajectories toward its three main European targets.

First submitted in 2019 and followed by a draft in 2023, the updated NECP has been carefully drafted with input sought from experts across government, to ensure that the plan fully reflects Ireland’s ambition on energy and on climate. The Department of Environment, Climate and Communications (DECC) received an assessment in February of the draft NECP submitted in December, highlighting areas for improvement in the draft document along with its strengths. Department officials have endeavoured to ensure that the European Commission’s assessment has been comprehensively dealt with and addressed in this further update, to ensure that the document submitted to the Commission during the summer is of the highest possible standard and addresses the key areas which the Commission has highlighted as being of importance.

Content of the NECP

National Energy and Climate Plans are the framework within which European Member States must notify their climate and energy objectives, targets, policies, and measures to the European Commission and were established under Regulation (EU) 2018/1999 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the Governance of the Energy Union and Climate Action. Member States are required to develop NECPs on a ten-year rolling basis. The aim of the plans is to outline our energy and climate policies in detail for the period from 2021 to 2030 and provide projections and ambitions towards 2050. Under the Regulation, Member States are also required to update their initial plans after 5 years, this is the first update of the initial NECP published in 2019.

The NECP covers five dimensions of the Energy Union:

• Decarbonisation
• Energy Efficiency
• Energy Security
• Internal Energy Market
• Research, Innovation and Competitiveness

The NECP brings together the policies, targets, tools and associated material relating to our climate and energy obligations under various EU Regulations and Directives from across Government bodies and Departments into one document. It reflects our ambitions and provides certainty to investors and policymakers that we are committed to EU-wide targets and ambitions to move towards becoming a carbon-neutral society.

The NECP reflects the ambitions set out in Climate Action Plan 2024. Whereas the CAP is updated to reflect new policies and measures to increase Ireland’s ambitions in pursuing energy and climate targets, the NECP acts more as a collation of existing policies and an analysis of how we are performing relative to EU-wide targets, including projections on how we expect to perform in future years based on current trajectories. The NECP will act to identify gaps and areas that Ireland can improve on, which should be reflected in updated policies and measures in subsequent CAPs. The policies outlined in the NECP will reflect the ambition of Climate Action Plan 2024. However, due to the criteria set by the Commission the modelling does not simply reflect one Climate Action Plan. Developing the complex models necessitates the closure of the input assumptions exercise towards the end of the previous year. Therefore, there may be more recent initiatives or developments that are not reflected in the modelling.

The modelling underpinning the updated NECP has been carried out by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) based on two potential scenarios: the With Existing Measures (WEM) scenario and the With Additional Measures (WAM) scenario. Definitions are as follow:

• WEM: Measures committed to by Government. Measure must be in place before the end of the latest Inventory year (2022).
• WAM: Assumes implementation of the WEM in addition to measures in Government Plans including Climate Action Plan 2024

The modelled figures represent a snapshot based on set criteria but do not lock us into a trajectory to miss Ireland’s targets. Significant additional actions are required to address the shortfall, but progress can still be made.

Update 14 June

Further information on the modelling which underpins the NECP is available on the EPA website.

Targets

While Ireland was previously on track to meet some of our European targets, Ireland and the European Union has increased its ambition in recent years on climate issues, and the revision of targets through the Fit for 55 package, which aims to reduce Europe’s greenhouse gas emissions by 55% in 2030 compared to 1990, has resulted in a significant increase to the contribution Ireland needs to make to ensure Europe can meet those targets. Whereas previously Ireland needed to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 30% compared to 2005, which it was on track to deliver, that target has now increased to 42%. Under the revised Energy Efficiency Directive, Ireland must reduce its final energy consumption to 10.45 Million Tonnes of Oil Equivalent (Mtoe), while the latest iteration of the Renewable Energy Directive, RED III, has seen Europe’s target on the overall share of energy consumption derived from renewable sources for 2030 increased substantially to 42.5%.

As the NECP does not introduce new policy the approach to the NECP has been to utilise and build on the existing and extensive policy specific consultations and other consultative process, such as the National Dialogue on Climate Action, that have been ongoing since the first NECP (2019). These consultations have been supplemented by two four-week consultations and a digital event. This is also part of the wider consultation strategy that has sought to engage other Member States and the UK.

We have also sought to build on the first consultation by addressing as many of the points raised during feedback as possible and within the limitations of the NECP document. As the NECP is using existing policies and initiatives, feedback relating to distinct policy areas will be formally fed back to those teams or Departments to review and action as appropriate through the domestic policy cycle. The updated material in the revised draft will address many of the points raised around the incomplete nature of the first draft. We are also planning a digital event during the second consultation that will provide further context to the plan and discus in more detail the content and targets.

Where comments or observations received during the second consultation cannot be actioned through the NECP process, they will be notified to relevant teams or Departments for review and to be actioned, where possible, through the national policy cycle.

The closing date for submissions is 5.30pm Thursday 27 June 2024

Submissions should be sent by email to necp@decc.gov.ie or by post to:

National Energy and Climate Plan

Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications

Tom Johnson House, Beggars Bush

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. We will consider all submissions and feedback before we publish the final version of the integrated National Energy and Climate Plan.

Your response to this consultation is subject to:

• the Freedom of Information Act 2014 (FOI)
• the Access to Information on the Environment Regulations 2007-2018 (AIE)
• the Data Protection Act 2018

Publishing of responses

We intend to publish the contents of all submissions received to our consultations on our website. We will redact (remove) personal data before publication.

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• personal information
• commercially sensitive information
• confidential information

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