Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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51. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the estimated amount of carbon credits Ireland will need to purchase in 2020 in order to comply with its international obligations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49386/19]

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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56. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if spending needed to purchase carbon credits to comply with international obligations will affect other projects under his Department; the projected amount of funding needed in the coming years to purchase carbon credits; the areas from which the carbon credits for 2019 came; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49436/19]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 51, 56 and 206 together.

Under the 2009 Effort Sharing Decision 406/2009/EC (ESD), which put in place binding annual emissions targets for each year between 2013 and 2020 for sectors outside the EU Emissions Trading System, Ireland must achieve a reduction of 20% relative to 2005 levels of emissions. These targets cover emissions from sectors such as transport, agriculture, buildings and waste. The latest projections of greenhouse gas emissions, published earlier this year by the EPA, indicate that emissions from those sectors of the economy covered by the ESD could remain between 0% and 1% below 2005 levels by 2020.

The ESD allows Member States to meet their targets by means of unused emissions allowances from earlier years, or through purchasing allowances from other Member States or on international markets.

The latest projections indicate that Ireland will cumulatively exceed its obligations by 14.8Mt over the 2013-2020 period. Ireland has, over the period since 2007, already acquired 5.3 million allowances that will be required for compliance. However, Ireland will need to purchase additional allowances to meet projected shortfalls in 2019 and 2020. My Department currently estimates the cost of this requirement to be in the region of €6m to €13m, depending on the price and final quantity of allowances required. Provision will be made in my Department's Vote for this purpose.

This cost estimate is in addition to the costs already incurred from previous purchases and agreements entered into by the State, amounting to some €121m in total since 2007, a proportion of which was used to meet Ireland's obligations under the Kyoto Protocol in the period 2008-2012.