My colleague Áine was in touch yesterday with news that the revised Climate Bill was on the way. And sure enough, the Climate Bill was finally published yesterday evening!

I’m writing to share some of our initial reaction to the Climate Bill  - and to remind you to sign up to our webinar tomorrow evening where we’ll dig into the Bill’s details in more depth.  

The draft Climate Bill published last year was disappointing, with many loopholes and weaknesses. I’m delighted to say that the revised Bill is much stronger. Huge thanks for that is due to Stop Climate Chaos supporters like you - who have taken action time and time again to make the Climate Bill better. I’m deeply grateful.

The Bill that was published yesterday has more robust mechanisms to hold the Government to account for climate action. It has carbon budgets that cover the whole economy and all greenhouse gas emissions, especially methane.  This is great news. But we are concerned that the Bill’s overall net zero by 2050 target is inconsistent with climate science as it provides no guarantee of holding global warming below 1.5 degrees. We still have more campaigning to do to ramp up Ireland’s climate ambition! We’ll discuss this - and lots more - during tomorrow’s webinar. I hope you can join us.

Our press release has more detailed reaction to the Bill - in case you fancy some reading ahead of our webinar. The Government also launched a public consultation on climate action yesterday - inviting members of the public to share their views on how Ireland should reduce its emissions. The Climate Bill sets climate targets - but figuring out how we actually achieve these is the next big step, where citizens must have a voice. We’ll talk about this consultation during tomorrow’s webinar.  

With thanks for all you do - and hoping to see you tomorrow,

Sadhbh

Policy Coordinator

Stop Climate Chaos