Northern Ireland's first law to tackle climate change has been published after Stormont passed a new, specific Act.
The Climate Change Act (Northern Ireland) 2022 received Royal Assent on 6 June 2022 and includes a target for net-zero emissions by 2050 as well as a set of interim targets for 2030 and 2040 for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in Northern Ireland.
That Act also sets out a few other provisions, including the establishment of carbon budgets and the appointment of a climate change commissioner.
Northern Ireland had been the only part of the UK without climate legislation, something Agriculture and Environment Minister Edwin Poots had sought to address when he introduced the original Bill back in July 2021. It then proposed an 82% reduction in emissions by 2050, but in February the Northern Ireland Assembly voted to amend that to a net-zero target by the same date. A move that would bring Northern Ireland in line with other parts of the UK.
The Assembly had been in an unusual position that two pieces of legislation on the same issue were going through the legislative process. As a result of the publication of the Climate Change Act (Northern Ireland) 2022, the separate, more ambitious Private Member's Climate Change Bill from Green leader Clare Bailey will now not proceed.
Ms Bailey said that as her party and others had amended Mr Poots' Bill to make it "stronger than previously proposed", she would not continue to push her Bill.
Speaking just after his legislation passed its final stage in the Assembly, Minister Poots said:
"Northern Ireland’s first ever Climate Change Legislation, is an historic moment. Climate change is an issue that affects everyone in Northern Ireland and everyone on this planet. It requires people both at a global and local level to respond and we have a duty to take action to ensure our environmental footprint becomes less significant.
"I have been clear and consistent throughout this process that we should follow the advice of the experts and set targets on the basis of the evidence. Unfortunately, some compromise was necessary, but I have done my best to mitigate and offset negative and unfair impacts from these, to realign the Bill back to science and evidence and to ensure that it can be as legally effective as possible. Although this Bill sets a legally binding Net Zero target, it will not require a level of net methane emissions reduction of more than 46% by 2050, which is consistent with the advice from the IPCC, the CCC’s Balanced Pathway recommendations and the ambition of the Paris Agreement. This will ensure that the net zero ambition will not disadvantage our local food production and require our agriculture sector to shut down."
