Climate Bill 2013-background

Vested interests are doing everything they can to kill the climate Bill. They are spreading misinformation and making absurd claims about the impact of the Bill. They are gaining ground but the haven't won yet.

If they succeed this Government will be very very slow to return to the issue.

This is your chance to fight back.

The Government is running a public consultation. We have made a submission to support and improve the Bill. The Bill is a crucial building block of a sustainable, low-carbon recovery for Ireland. It can and should be strengthened.

23 January 2012: This is your chance to put your views on the official record as Hogan issues Roadmap for Climate Policy and Legislation

While we welcome the publication of a detailed "Roadmap for Climate Policy and Legislation" by Minister for the Environment, Phil Hogan, it is a painfully slow timeline. 

According to Friends of the Earth's, Oisin Coughlan, "The roadmap provides welcome clarity about the Government's commitment to passing a climate law and outlines the opportunities for public participation in its development. It sets out a detailed step-by-step plan to pass climate legislation by the end of 2013."

"But that timeline lacks any sense of urgency. It is climate policy for slow learners, to coin a phrase. We already have two Heads of Bills, one that had all-party backing, as well as the results of a public consultation on climate legislation carried out just last year. If he wanted to, the Minister could easily have Heads of Bill published before he goes to the RIO+20 conference in June."

The Roadmap commits to the following steps:

• a public consultation on climate policy and legislation until the end of April 2012
• publication of the Heads of a Climate Bill in the last quarter of 2012
• the Oireachtas Committee to make recommendations before the end of June 2013
• the Government to introduce the final Bill to the Oireachtas in the second half of 2013

The Oireachtas committee has welcomed the roadmap and the key role the committee will have in helping to develop policy and legislation in this area.

Please take action now.
Already stumbling, global climate talks could fail completely unless European politicians back strong protections for forests. Send a message to your Environment Minister, Mr Phil Hogan, urging him to be a climate leader and block accounting tricks for forests:

Forests are the lungs of our planet, sustaining people, animals and plants worldwide. They’re also a potential life-saver in the fight against climate change. But they’re threatened: deforestation already contributes to 20% of all global greenhouse gas emissions. We can’t let a handful of countries undermine efforts to protect them, exploiting forests to avoid taking on real action to protect our common future.

	Just Forests Submission on Climate Bill.docx (124.04 KB)
Mr. Phil Hogan T.D., Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government today (15 December, 2011) addressed the Joint Committee on Environment, Transport, Culture and the Gaeltacht on his approach to the development of national climate policy and he also informed the members of the negotiations at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Durban, South Africa last week.
	Joint Committee Appearance Rev2.doc (62.5 KB)
You can download the text of The Roadmap here... 26th January, 2012
	doe_programme_for_the_development_of_national_climate_policy_and_legislation.pdf (211.23 KB)