Agenda item

            The Committee was reminded that the Council, at its meeting on 1st September, had passed the following motion on a Climate Change Act, which had been proposed by Councillor Flynn:

“This Council welcomes the environmental commitments in the New Decade New Approach Deal. This council is deeply concerned that the Minister for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs did not support an Assembly Motion to develop a Climate Change Act for Northern Ireland.

This Council notes that Northern Ireland has fallen behind other parts of the UK in progressing reduction of emissions. A Climate Change Act can help us realise the ambition of the Belfast Agenda to create an environmentally sustainable City. This Council calls on the Minister to immediately prioritise the development of a Climate Change Act with legally binding and ambitious sectoral emission-reduction targets and a just transition to protect jobs through upskilling in less carbon intensive sectors.”

            The City Solicitor reminded the Committee that, at its meeting on 23rd October, it had considered a response from the Minister for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs. The Minister had confirmed that he had written to the UK Climate Change Committee for advice on what Northern Ireland’s equitable contribution to the UK’s net zero emissions target would be, to ensure that its greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets were credible and evidence-based. Unfortunately, the Committee had not been in a position to respond to his request until after it had provided advice on the UK’s sixth carbon budget, which would be published in December, 2020.

            In the interim, his officials had provided him with proposals on an options appraisal for a Climate Change Bill in Northern Ireland. The Minister would consider those options, along with the advice provided by the Climate Change Committee, and would present his findings to the Northern Ireland Executive to agree a way forward.

            The Committee, on 23rd October, had noted the Minister’s response and had agreed that a further letter be forwarded to him seeking an update on the work which was being undertaken by his Department to address increasing carbon emission levels, including the mechanisms for monitoring, reporting and enforcement, the role of the Chief Inspector of the Northern Ireland Environment Agency in that work, and any assessment of carbon emissions which had been undertaken at a local level.

            The Minister, within his response to that letter, had pointed out that reducing carbon emissions required a collective approach from Government and society and that it was the responsibility of Northern Ireland Departments to take action to reduce emissions in those areas under their control. He had explained that the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs was responsible for emissions in the Agriculture, Land Use and Land Use Change and Forestry and Waste sectors and that it was taking forward or supporting a number of programmes of work which would directly contribute towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

            He had gone on to review the latest greenhouse gas emission figures for Northern Ireland and for its proportion of total UK emissions, both overall and in relation to the agriculture sector and had pointed out that that sector was recognised by the Climate Change Committee as being one of the most difficult in which to achieve reductions.

            The Minister had then confirmed that the Chief Inspector of the Northern Ireland Environment Agency was responsible for enforcing the various pieces of legislation designed to protect the environment and public health from harmful emissions and had concluded by referring to the Pollution Prevention and Control (Industrial Emissions) Regulations and to the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, in the context of the monitoring and reporting of emissions.

            The Committee noted the information which had been provided.