Cop27: Offshore wind projects will be harder to block under reforms - Taoiseach

The provision of offshore wind energy will be accelerated under changes to planning legislation which will make it harder to block projects, Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said. Speaking at the Cop27 global climate conference in Egypt, Mr Martin pledged to deliver on Ireland’s carbon-reduction commitments by scaling up the development of offshore wind projects.

On Monday UN secretary-general António Guterres said time was running out to address the climate crisis and, in a highly critical address to world leaders, called on governments to tax the windfall profits of fossil fuel companies. “Let’s redirect the money to people struggling with rising food and energy prices, and to countries suffering loss and damage caused by the climate crisis.”

In advance of a series of meetings with global leaders gathered in Sharm el-Sheik, Mr Martin said delivery of climate pledges must be accelerated by developed countries, including Ireland. He will outline Ireland’s national position at Cop27 on Tuesday afternoon.

He said Ireland would be pushing at the UN climate talks for delivery on measures to accelerate emission reductions and scaling up of climate finance for vulnerable countries – especially those already suffering from a warming world and extreme weather events. “We need to focus more on delivery measures...We all have work to do. Ireland has work to do. We achieved a lot with onshore wind. We need to ensure we can accelerate offshore.”

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Attorney general Paul Gallagher is currently conducting a review of planning legislation with the intention of consolidating and streamlining the legal framework for planning decisions. It is expected to be finalised later this month, and published before the changeover in government in December.

It is understood that it will seek to speed up the planning process for major projects of national importance such as offshore wind farms, judged by the Government to be central to efforts to decarbonise Ireland’s energy sector and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

It is likely to confine the right to object to projects to people living in their immediate vicinity. It will also narrow the scope for people to take judicial reviews challenging decisions to award planning permission, which can currently delay projects by years.

Mr Martin said Ireland had an abundance of offshore wind and “a lot of people impatient about pace”, but the Government was committed to making it happen as quickly as possible.

Asked about current “turmoil” in An Bord Pleanála, he accepted the need to reform the organisation and to provide more resources on environment and climate, including specialist staff. He said changes to planning legislation on a new environmental court would complement these changes.

The Taoiseach had a short meeting with Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany in advance of them launching the Global Shield Against Climate Risks on Tuesday – an initiative to support poorer countries.

In a round-table discussion on food security the Taoiseach condemned the illegal war waged by Russia and the weaponising of hunger. Countries which have contributed least to climate crisis were bearing the worst brunt of it, he added. As a consequence Ireland had increased its contribution to eliminating global hunger by committing €800 million for global nutrition work over the next five years and provided an additional €50 million to tackle childhood malnutrition over the next three years.