Ireland will face substantial fines for missing European carbon reduction targets by 2020 but the penalties will not be as high as the €600 million some experts have predicted, the Minister for Climate Action has said. Responding to a European Commission report, which this week warned of the consequences of missing the targets on decarbonisation and adopting renewable energy, Denis Naughten said Ireland faced uniquely challenging circumstances. The commission’s ‘2018 Country Report’ on Ireland concludes that “existing climate change mitigation efforts will not enable Ireland to achieve its Europe 2020 climate goals domestically”. “Using its banked emissions from the period to 2015, Ireland is projected to comply with its emissions reduction targets in each of the years 2013 to 2018,” she said. “While this purchasing requirement is not expected to be significant, further analysis will be required to quantify the likely costs involved.”

Source: The Irish Times May 25, 2018 12:33 UTC