Approval of first carbon budgets by the Irish Parliament

Ireland’s Climate Act in 2021 established a legal obligation to achieve a 51% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 relative to 2018 levels — one of the most ambitious national targets globally. The Act also introduced fiveyear Carbon Budgets and sectoral emissions ceilings as legally binding governance tools. The Climate Change Advisory Council formed a Carbon Budgets Committee to design the first set of budgets for 2021–2025 and 2026–2030, drawing on detailed analysis from the TIMES energy system model alongside agricultural and landuse models. This scenariobased modelling was essential for exploring feasible decarbonisation pathways, assessing technology deployment requirements, and ensuring alignment with EU obligations, the Paris Agreement, and national economic considerations. This analysis formed a significant part of the evidence used by the Climate Change Advisory Council to propose the first set of carbon budget recommendations that were subsequently approved by the Irish Oireachtas (Parliament).