Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 28 May 2025
40. Deputy Pa Daly asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the funding that was allocated to the Climate Action Fund in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2023 and in 2025; and the amount that was drawn down per year. [28173/25]
View answer41. Deputy Pa Daly asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications to estimate the cost of doubling the Climate Action Fund. [28174/25]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 40 and 41 together.
The Climate Action Fund (CAF) does not receive an annual Voted allocation, but rather receives income from various sources including the National Oil Reserve Agency (NORA) Levy and from Government flight emissions offsets.
The NORA Levy is a levy charged on disposals of petroleum products. It is collected by the National Oil Reserve Agency and used by the Agency to fund Ireland's obligations to hold strategic reserves of oil. The funds accrued by the levy in any year in excess of NORA's requirements are transferred to the Climate Action Fund, as provided for in the National Oil Reserves Agency (Amendment) and Provision of Central Treasury Services Act 2020.
DPENDR Circular 01/2020 provides for the offsetting of carbon emissions arising from official air travel. This requires all Government Departments and Offices to record carbon emissions associated with official air travel, value them at the prevailing rate of Ireland’s domestic Carbon Tax, and pay an equivalent amount into the Climate Action Fund each year.
Additional income can be transferred into the CAF but must follow the requirements set out in the National Oil Reserves Agency (Amendment) and Provision of Central Treasury Services Act 2020.
The income and expenditure drawn down from the Fund since its establishment are set out (in €'000) in the table below:
|
- |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
2025* |
|
Income |
0 |
151,972 |
93,213 |
80,095 |
100,353 |
523 |
|
Expenditure |
0 |
9,410 |
17,391 |
22,367 |
101,113** |
5,682 |
*2025 Income and Expenditure are to date and will continue to increase until the end of year.
**2024 Expenditure includes €1,359,999 unspent funds returned by the SEAI for which DECC is awaiting approval from DPENDR to return to the CAF. This would give net expenditure in 2024 of €99,753,134.
