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Government gave its approval on Tuesday to pay out €2.9m for carbon credits generated in Slovakia to meet its EU emissions obligation for 2020.
Of all options available to comply with 2020’s climate target, this route posed the “highest cost efficiency” for the Government and secures the “best possible” value for taxpayers money, the Department of the Environment told the Irish Farmers Journal.
The €2.9m is to cover the purchase of 4.15m annual emission allowances – the equivalent to 4.15m tonnes of CO2 emissions equivalents.
2020 was the final year for which Government must comply with the Effort Sharing Decision on emissions, which was replaced by the Effort Sharing Regulation.
The regulation lays out member state-specific binding emissions reduction targets up to 2030, but is to be updated in line with further EU climate policies.
After what the Department has called an “intense period of negotiations”, the update is now subject to formal adoption.
Final targets and the compliance options available to Ireland under the regulation will be finalised once the update is adopted.
“In any case, the stated objective of Government policy is to comply with our EU targets through direct emissions reductions and, if necessary, to avail of the other compliance options that are available under EU legislation,” a Department spokesperson said.
SHARING OPTIONS: