Monitoring of climate targets ‘unsatisfactory’, audit finds

The State’s system for monitoring whether Ireland is meeting key climate change targets is “unsatisfactory,” an internal Department of Communications and Climate Action audit has found.

The audit found a “significant number” of failings with how progress on climate targets is recorded and reported to Government and senior department officials.

“The arrangements in place in relation to the monitoring and oversight of the climate change targets within the department are unsatisfactory,” the audit concluded.

Completed in November 2018, the department’s audit report was released to The Irish Times under the Freedom of Information Act.

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Ireland is set to fall short of European Union climate targets to reduce its carbon emissions by next year, and is also on course to miss significant 2030 targets.

The strict targets include cutting greenhouse gas emissions, improving energy efficiency, and increasing production of renewable energy. Failure to meet the climate targets will result in heavy fines being levied against the country.

The internal audit found Minister for Climate Action Richard Bruton "is not informed on a systematic basis of performance gaps" in department policies to hit climate targets. As a result the Minister was "unable to advise Government of the need for corrective action", the audit said.

There was “no procedural arrangement” for reporting progress on emissions targets to the department management board of senior civil servants. The audit found this posed a risk decisions made by the board “may not be informed by the most recent information”.

Similarly, the audit found there was “no regular arrangement” for reporting progress on renewable energy targets to the management board. The internal audit division found while data on progress was collected, it was only provided to the board once a year.

Oireachtas

There was also a lack of formal reporting on overall climate change targets to Government and the Oireachtas, the audit said. The Oireachtas was only updated on Ireland’s performance towards the set targets when Mr Bruton, or the department secretary general, appeared before parliamentary committees, or in response to parliamentary questions.

The audit recommended the department set up a “cohesive structure for reporting to Government, where all relevant information regarding progress on respective targets can be presented regularly”.

Commenting on the audit, Green Party leader Eamon Ryan said it was "very welcome that the department is recognising its own failings".

“That is critical because what the department were doing to date has been a lot of talk, with little action. What we need is to be monitoring what’s actually happening, rather than producing white papers or plans. For all the talk, for all the plans, emissions are rising, not falling.”

In June, the Government launched an ambitious plan to significantly cut emissions on a sustained basis up to 2030, which included plans for increased carbon taxes, targets to push electric vehicle sales, and widespread retrofitting of homes.

A department spokeswoman said a “central focus of the new plan is the establishment of the necessary governance arrangements to monitor and oversee progress towards meeting Ireland’s climate targets”.

These included setting up a climate action delivery board, quarterly reporting to government on the plan’s progress, and introducing a Cabinet committee on the environment, the spokeswoman said.