“Draft Climate Law is timely and exporters stand ready to contribute” – Simon McKeever CEO Irish Exporters Association

Thursday, 8th October 2020: The Irish Exporters Association (IEA) welcomes the publication of the draft Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2020, that enshrines carbon neutrality by 2050 into law – a key aim that underpins the European Green Deal. Addressing climate change and sustainability is a pillar of the IEA’s work for some time and the Association looks forward to working with Government on the final text. As businesses deal with COVID-19 and a no-deal Brexit on the horizon, we welcome the draft Climate Law as a means of tackling climate change through an overall economic recovery strategy.

In its pre-budget submission, the Association calls on the Government to ensure that Budget 2021 foresees inevitable changes coming down the line from the EU. The goal of ensuring that Europe becomes the first carbon neutral economy in the world by 2050 will drive the work of the current European Commission and Member States will have to follow suit. Tackling the continued climate crisis is a key element to the IEA’s 2021 Budget submission.

 Simon McKeever, IEA Chief Executive commented: “The EU Green Deal is set to dominate upcoming EU policies. The IEA is calling on the Government to utilise Budget 2021 to make the challenges easier and inspire innovation within companies to adopt more sustainable practices. The publication of the draft Climate Law is timely given that we are days away from the budget announcement.

 I am mindful that all businesses are experiencing difficulties at the moment. Efforts to tackle climate change present challenges and opportunities for exporters and in light of the impact of COVID-19 on IEA members, we are asking that the Government utilises Budget 2021 to smoothen this curve – make the challenges easier and inspire innovation within Irish companies to adopt more sustainable practices. I believe this is key to rebooting the economy.

 We now have an opportunity to commence repositioning Ireland as a hugely attractive place for sustainable FDI. The IEA will work to ensure that this is taken account of in the final text.“