Debate contribution: The draft Climate Change (Carbon Budgets 2023-2037) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2024

Debate contribution by Mr Matthew O'Toole on 10 December 2024.

MLA

Mr Matthew O'Toole

Party at the time

Social Democratic and Labour Party

Date

10 December 2024

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Executive Committee Business

Heading

The draft Climate Change (Carbon Budgets 2023-2037) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2024

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4715577

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I am going to speak relatively briefly about the regulations. Our representative on the AERA Committee, Patsy McGlone, is unwell, so is unable to be in the Chamber, and we send him our best wishes. The SDLP broadly welcomes the regulations that have been laid by the AERA Minister. It is important to note a couple of contextual things first of all. Northern Ireland has, frankly, been a shameful laggard for far too long when it comes to climate action. At the very last minute, in the dying embers of the previous Assembly mandate, we did agree a Climate Change Act, which, for the first time, put in place binding targets for tackling the climate emergency, reducing emissions and reaching net zero. We were also the last jurisdiction on these islands to have such targets placed into law. What matters now is that those targets are backed up with meaningful action that can deliver on them. First of all, we need the regulations that are being laid today. However, we also need, after this, meaningful climate action plans, and I acknowledge and understand that those are going to have to get through the Northern Ireland Executive. These questions and trade-offs are not easy, but climate change is not easy, either. We are already living with the consequences of climate change. We saw that last weekend with the devastating impact of storm Darragh. On this island, some of the impacts of climate change are, in one sense, less dramatic for us than they are for other parts of the world, where people face loss of life, loss of home and the most profound shift in how they will be obliged to live. On this island, we will face significant disruption, and we need to manage climate change. As the Member who spoke previously said, we also need to ensure that those who are impacted on by how we shift our economy and how we deliver on those climate change obligations are not only protected through a just transition, particularly for agriculture, but, where they are in industry, are helped and guided to deliver on their emissions targets and obligations. Those are not easy questions. They are not easy for any jurisdiction in the world. They certainly are not easy for a jurisdiction that is addicted to collapse and dysfunction. It calls to all of us to be serious about our job as legislators to confront, in many ways, the most profound challenge that any democracy is facing this century. It behoves all of us to be serious about our obligations and about the targets. That is why we welcome the fact that the regulations have been laid today. As I said, retaining the 2030 emissions reduction target of at least 48% below baseline and setting a 20:40 target of 77% demonstrates a welcome commitment to tackle the climate emergency. Those are essential steps that align Northern Ireland with a trajectory to net zero by 2050, as outlined in the Climate Change Act 2008. However, as I said, those steps are necessary but not sufficient. They will be, in a sense, meaningless without urgent action to deliver on them and make them real. As I said, the stark reality is that the impacts of climate change are already here. We cannot afford complacency. The recent storms and the devastating floods that we have seen disrupted livelihoods, damaged infrastructure and illustrated in stark detail the vulnerability of our communities. We saw it in towns and cities across the island and in this region. That is climate change. What happened last year in my home town of Downpatrick is climate change. That is the climate changing and affecting how we live, do business and go about our everyday lives. This is not an abstract preoccupation for lefties or progressives; it is a real, meaningful challenge that will affect all of us and how we live our lives. As I said, quite rightly, climate action cannot and must not be confined to one Department. In many ways, it is the ultimate cross-cutting issue, and the targets and regulations will be delivered only with meaningful cross-departmental action. We will be robust with the AERA Minister in bringing forward proposals on climate action and on the broader questions of biodiversity, environmental protection and calling for the most robust and urgent action. We have been robust with him at times in the Chamber. We will also support him when he shows ambition and when others are less likely to show ambition. Climate change demands decisive, cohesive action across the Executive. While the regulations are crucial, these questions remain: what comes next? Are the Executive capable of delivering on that? We need a planning system that enables the rapid and large-scale roll-out of renewable energy projects. We need an economic model that places sustainability at the heart of our prosperity, acknowledging that a thriving economy is intrinsically linked to a stable climate. In our debate later this afternoon, when we will talk about the protocol, I will talk a bit more about the opportunities, which include those to use our dual market access and our position in relation to both markets and both decarbonisation agendas, which are being driven from London and Brussels, to our economic advantage. Unfortunately, like a lot of the Executive's work thus far, good intentions have not translated into action. We welcome the targets being set out today, but, ultimately, we will judge the Executive on the action that follows. It is, however, a welcome step to see the regulations being laid before us today. It is also important to acknowledge that they are a year late. That goes back to the point about the structural dysfunction that we have in this place and the fact that things like climate action end up being subject to the whims of our political dysfunction. We also have to recognise the fact that several key provisions of the Climate Change Act, which was passed here with great aplomb in 2022, remain undelivered. Those include the establishment of a climate commissioner, so it would be helpful, when the Minister sums up, for him to talk a little bit about those outstanding actions. The climate commissioner's role is vital to ensuring accountability and driving progress. Let us not delay on this work. We need to get real, and we all need to be serious about making those targets a reality.

That includes reassuring and engaging with all the sectors that will have to feel the brunt of some of the changes but can also benefit from how we adjust the way in which we work our economy. That includes our agri-food sector, which delivers huge economic benefits for this region and wants to be part of the agenda. However, we need to be clear about the targets and how we intend to deliver on them.

As I said, the urgency of climate action, which is, in many ways, the ultimate question facing us for the remainder of the century, demands meaningful and practical action, and it demands that we, as legislators, are serious about our responsibilities. To that end, we welcome the regulations that are being laid before the Assembly, but we hope that they are followed up with more detail on a climate action plan and more practical action, driven by the Executive with honesty and clarity.

1,228 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:45 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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