Abstract
The legal provisions governing Climate Law in Ireland stem from a range of sources: our membership of the UN climate regime, the requirements of European Union (EU) regulations and, more recently, national legislation surrounding climate governance. Added to this, a small but growing body of case law where climate has formed part of the legal issues litigated. This chapter seeks to give a comprehensive overview of how each level interacts with each other and, through this, demonstrate the overall climate regime applicable in Ireland. The chapter begins with an overview of the UN climate regime, with a more detailed look at the requirements of the Paris Agreement. It then considers the binding EU targets applicable in Ireland through the 2020 and 2030 climate and energy packages, with a focus on three key pieces of legislation—the Emissions Trading System (ETS), the Climate Action Regulation (CAR) and the renewable energy directive. The implications of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015 will also be considered.
Obviously, climate emissions and greenhouse gas areas is an area where we’re laggard and falling way behind
—An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, December 2018
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
Bibliography
Bauer, A., J. Feichtinger, and R. Steurer. 2012. The Governance of Climate Change Adaptation in 10 OECD Countries: Challenges and Approaches. Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning 14: 279–304.
Burck, J., U. Hagen, F. Marten, N. Höhne, and C. Bals. 2018. The Climate Change Performance Index: Results 2019. Bonn: Germanwatch.
Citizens’ Assembly. 2018. Third Report and Recommendations of the Citizens’ Assembly: How the State can Make Ireland a Leader in Tackling Climate Change. Available at: https://www.citizensassembly.ie/en/how-the-state-can-make-ireland-a-leader-in-tackling-climate-change/final-report-on-how-the-state-can-make-ireland-a-leader-in-tackling-climate-change/climate-change-report-final.pdf. Accessed 17 July 2020.
Climate Action Europe. 2018. ‘Off Target: Ranking of EU Countries’ Ambition and Progress in Fighting Climate Change. Available at: http://www.caneurope.org/docman/climate-energy-targets/3357-off-target-ranking-of-eu-countries-ambition-and-progress-in-fighting-climate-change/file. Accessed 17 July 2020.
Department of Climate Action, Communications and the Environment. 2017. National Mitigation Plan. Dublin.
———. 2018. National Adaptation Framework. Dublin.
Doran, P. 2013. The Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill (Draft Heads) – An Opinion: Part One. Irish Planning and Environmental Law 20 (3): 116–124.
Ecologic Institute. 2017. Paris Compatible Governance: Long-Term Policy Frameworks to Drive Transformational Change. Available at: https://www.ecologic.eu/sites/files/publication/2017/paris_compatible_governance_-_ecologic_institute_report_0.pdf. Accessed 17 July 2020.
Elkink, J.A., D.M. Farrell, T. Reidy, and J. Suiter. 2017. Understanding the 2015 Marriage Referendum in Ireland: Context, Campaign, and Conservative Ireland. Irish Political Studies 32 (3): 361–381.
Fankhauser, S., A. Averchenkova, and J. Finnegan. 2018. 10 years of the UK Climate Change Act. The Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, The Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy (CCCEP) LSE.
Gillard, R. 2016. Unravelling the United Kingdom’s Climate Policy Consensus: The Power of Ideas, Discourse and Institutions. Global Environmental Change 40: 26–36.
Government of Ireland. 2019. Climate Action Plan 2019. Dublin.
Government Offices of Sweden; Ministry of the Environment and Energy. 2017. The Swedish Climate Policy Framework.
Irish Cooperative Organisation Society. 2016. ICOS Climate Change Meeting with Phil Hogan [Press Release], 12 June.
Joint Committee on Climate Action. 2019. Climate Change: A Cross-Party Consensus for Action. Dublin.
Kennedy, R. 2011. Climate Change Law and Policy in Ireland. Finnish Environmental Law Review 3: 66–83.
———. 2016. New Ideas or False Hopes?: International, European and Irish Climate Change Law and Policy After the Paris Agreement. Irish Planning and Environmental Law Journal 23 (3): 75–82.
Kingston, S., V. Heyvaert, and A. Cavoski. 2017. European Environmental Law. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Linehan, C. 2012. Climate Change and the Planning and Development (Amendment) Act 2010. Irish Planning and Environmental Law Journal 19 (3): 115–119.
Lockwood, M. 2013. The Political Sustainability of Climate Policy: The Case of the UK Climate Change Act. Global Environmental Change 23: 1339–1348.
O’Connor, M. 2017. Gone with the Wind: The Uncertain Pursuit of Ireland’s 2020 RES-E Target – An Overview. Irish Planning and Environmental Law Journal 24 (4): 148–157.
O’Sullivan, K. 2018. Budget’s Failure to Increase Carbon Tax Is Shocking. The Irish Times, October 9.
RedC/RTE/TG4. 2019. Exit Poll for the European Elections, Local Election and Divorce Referendum, May 24.
Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland. 2019. Energy in Ireland: 2019 Report, December, 2019.
Torney, D. 2017. If at First You Don’t Succeed: The Development of Climate Change Legislation in Ireland. Irish Political Studies 32 (2): 247–267.
Torney, D., and R. O’Gorman. 2019. A Laggard in Good Times and Bad? The Limited Impact of EU Membership on Ireland’s Climate Change and Environmental Policy. Irish Political Studies 32 (2): 247–267.
Transport & Environment. 2018. From Effort Sharing Decision to Climate Action Regulation: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Available at: https://www.transportenvironment.org/sites/te/files/publications/2018_03_ESR_CAR_final_report.pdf. Accessed 17 July 2020.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
O’Gorman, R. (2020). Climate Law in Ireland: EU and National Dimensions. In: Robbins, D., Torney, D., Brereton, P. (eds) Ireland and the Climate Crisis. Palgrave Studies in Media and Environmental Communication. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-47587-1_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-47587-1_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-47586-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-47587-1
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media StudiesLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)