Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Phil Hogan, TD has released a policy analysis report from the Secretariat to the National Economic and Social Council – Towards a New National Climate Policy.

Following the review of national climate policy in November 2011, the Government commissioned the independent analysis from the NESC Secretariat, which was requested to submit, by end June 2012, an interim report addressing policies and measures to close the distance to Ireland’s greenhouse gas mitigation targets already in place for the period 2013-20. 

The second and final report, which is due to be submitted by the Secretariat by the end of the year, will focus on the development of a basis for a long-term socio-economic vision to underpin effective national transition to a low-carbon future by 2050.

The report will now be referred for consideration to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht.

In the next issue of the PAI Journal, Friends of the Earth, the NGO which campaigns on climate change, will discuss ongoing developments by the Government in relation climate policy.