Ireland

In December 2023, Ireland published its draft updated NECP, months late and without complying with public participation requirements. This briefing paper sets out why the NECP revision process is so important, why the approach adopted by Ireland has been so problematic to date and what must be done to course-correct at this critical juncture for Ireland’s planning for net-zero.

The NECP update was a critical moment for Ireland to align its climate policies with both national and EU goals and to strengthen its commitment to a just transition. As Ireland faces increasing pressure to meet its 2030 climate and energy targets, the NECP update provided a unique opportunity to address gaps in existing policies, integrate new climate commitments, and...

This paper sets out a summary of Environmental Justice Network Ireland’s priorities and recommendations for Ireland’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union in July–December 2026. Its aim is to inform government, policymakers, and stakeholders about the key environmental justice and environmental democracy issues that should be advanced during Ireland’s term. The paper highlights the responsibility and opportunity Ireland...

This document is a copy of the survey used for the public consultation on the development of Ireland’s Social Climate Plan. It outlines EJNI’s response to the survey questions. For a full outline of EJNI’s position on what needs to be in Ireland’s Social Climate Plan, see our resource paper published earlier this year, Six Priorities for Ireland’s Social Climate Plan.

The European Pillar of Social Rights is designed to act as the EU’s blueprint for a ‘fairer and more inclusive Europe that protects its citizens while contributing to better living and working conditions’.  The first Action Plan to turn the principles of the Pillar into concrete actions was produced in 2021. The European Commission is now consulting on a new...

The EU is currently developing its Civil Society Strategy. Our response explores public participation, administrative burdens and technical solutions to existing public participation deficits. It also highlights mechanisms through which enabling environments for meaningful public participation can be created, including: • Providing structured and regular opportunities to participate with information available at different levels for different audiences (lay and expert),...

The Social Climate Fund (SCF) is part of the European Union's Fit for 55 package and is the first fund dedicated to counterbalancing the negative socio-economic effects of the extension of the Emissions Trading System (ETS2) that will apply to the transport and heating & cooling sectors.1 Social Climate Plans (SCPs) outline how Member States will allocate SCF resources and...

EU Member States are required to prepare, consult upon, and submit a national Social Climate Plan (SCP) to the European Commission before June 30th, 2025. This briefing explains the public participation requirements for the production of Ireland’s SCP in detail.

In recent years Just Transition has been the subject of significant research and analysis and is increasingly enshrined in legal obligations at national and supranational level. It has been widely acknowledged that just transition policies and initiatives can deliver useful measures and on the ground action to address the social risks of industrial decarbonisation and make decarbonisation socially fair and...

This report is part of an Environmental Justice Network Ireland (EJNI) project exploring strategic litigation on the island of Ireland, funded by the European Climate Foundation. The report has been informed by deskbased research and an initial scoping exercise which involved a small, focused (Chatham House Rules1) workshop for NGOs and an event bringing together the key players in strategic...