merrion street

Minister Naughten, pictured with Commissioner Cañete and Agriculture Minister Michael Creed

Climate Change Minister Denis Naughten today met with Commissioner  Miguel Arias Cañete, European Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy, to discuss European actions to deliver on the objectives agreed at Paris, which will be given form in the European 2030 Climate and Energy Framework. 

Minister Naughten said:

I want to stress that we are fully committed to the climate agenda, however, given the efforts that we are making at a National level, it is imperative that our contribution to tackling climate change is fully achievable and addresses our key challenges in meeting our EU and international obligations, balancing our key concerns and social and economic realities. It will be really important that a whole of Government approach is adopted, covering all of the relevant sectors, including transport, agriculture, industry, etc.” 

We know that Ireland has the potential to make significant savings with regard to energy efficiency from our homes to our factories, but we need a joined up approach to climate and fiscal perspectives to enable investment to be mobilised.

The Minister ended by saying that he will have a number of further opportunities to meet with Commissioner Cañete and really looked forward to leading Irish engagement on the Climate Change and Energy agenda.