AQW 42735/22-27

Mrs Deborah Erskine
Democratic Unionist Party
Fermanagh and South Tyrone

Tabled Date: 19/03/2026
Answered On Date: 15/04/2026
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister for Infrastructure whether her Department has carried out any assessment of the Climate Change Act (Northern Ireland) 2022 and her Department's ability to meet the targets by 2030.

Answer:

The Climate Change Act (NI) 2022 sets an interim target of at least a 48% reduction in net emissions by 2030. This target applies to departments collectively, meaning it is a shared obligation rather than an individual target on each department.

Under the Act, specific departments are required to produce and publish sectoral plans setting out how specific sectors will contribute to meeting the emissions reduction target for 2030. My Department has responsibility for two such sectors – transport and infrastructure – and work to develop both sectoral plans is currently ongoing.

In addition, DAERA is required to produce 5-year climate action plans to set out the policies and proposals that departments will implement to meet the corresponding carbon budget as well as set out how the emissions reduction targets will be achieved. The first budgetary period is 2023-2027, and as the transport sectoral lead, my Department has set out its approach for reducing transport related emissions within the draft Climate Action Plan (2023–27), which closed for consultation in October 2025.

You may wish to note that although infrastructure is identified as a sector under the Climate Change Act (NI) 2022, its emissions cannot be measured separately, as they are embedded across sectors such as transport, energy and buildings. As a result, the draft Climate Action Plan does not include stand-alone infrastructure policies; instead, the associated emissions are addressed through the policies and proposals of other relevant sectors.