The Irish National Climate Change Strategy: New Laws, Future Policies?

Abstract

This paper is an overview of climate change law and policy in Ireland. It sketches the background to the international agreements covering climate change emissions. It also gives a brief summary of relevant European legislation. It then looks at the two Irish National Climate Change Strategy documents and summarises the relevant Irish legislation. Finally, it points to some possible developments in national policy in the future, looking particularly at initiatives in Scotland and New Zealand. While climate change policy is wide-ranging, diverse and employs many forms of market and social intervention, the focus here is on legal instruments that relate directly to climate change. The paper concludes that law is only part of an overall mix of policy instruments and tools that must be applied in order to deal with the complex challenge of climate change.

Keywords: climate change, Ireland, environmental law, environmental regulation, UNFCCC, Kyoto Protocol

JEL Classification: K32