It is clear to all of us from talking to people on the doorsteps in recent weeks that they want more ambition from all of us in the context of climate change. We have to reduce our carbon emissions by half by 2030, from 60 million tonnes to 33 million tonnes. Not all parts of the economy will transform at the same speed. Some changes are easier to achieve, and for us to envisage. Wind energy generation fits Ireland's natural advantages and I am confident that the right combination of public and private investment can ensure we meet the ambitious targets of 70% of renewables in electricity by 2030. By 2050, we should also be generating 100% renewable electricity, with excess energy being exported via the links to Britain and France.

As the Minister is aware, transforming to a low-energy economy in other sectors will be more challenging. Local government could lead the way on sustainability through its role in terms of planning and developing local government and local area plans. As an immediate first step, all local authorities should be required to measure accurately and report annually on their carbon footprints, from the buildings they occupy, to their housing stock, to their vehicles and on to all their various other activities. Local authorities should set ambitious targets in order that they can experiment, be incentivised to try out new technologies, learn best practice and consider what is best international practice. This research and development at local authority level would help build up a pool of expertise that we need to impact across the economy. Local authorities should take the lead. They could discover new ways that work in building technologies, planning, sustainable settlements, electric and biodiesel vehicles, retrofitting, electric-heating technology, solar panels, etc.

All public buildings should be retrofitted as a matter of priority. All local authority housing should be next. That would give rise to a significant improvement. It would reduce fuel poverty by ensuring that people have modernised homes that they can afford to keep warm. We should be aiming to retrofit 100,000 homes annually. That is hugely ambitious but if we have the will, it can be achieved.

Will the Government agree that all local authorities should aim to set net targets of being carbon neutral by 2030 in terms of their own carbon footprints? If we cannot achieve this ambition at local authority level, how can we expect the rest of the economy to achieve it? Will the Government commit to putting in place the necessary funds to enable local authorities to access the resources they need in order to implement practical actions that will achieve these ambitious targets?

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. Tackling the climate disruption issue is the greatest challenge that humanity faces. It will pose major challenges, globally as well as here at home, if we fail to deliver. The sad reality is that since the economic recovery started, we have failed to break the link between carbon and growing prosperity. We have a great deal of work to do in order to catch up.

I have prepared a detailed climate action plan which will address every sector of the economy. It will look at buildings, transport, agriculture and industry. It will deliver in the area of renewable electricity, increasing our ambition to move to using 70% renewables. Previously, that ambition was to get to 55%. We will implement the changes. Like the Deputy, I believe local authorities and all public bodies will be pivotal to delivering this. It is absolutely essential that the Government and all bodies lead by example, not only in the context of their own direct carbon impact but also by motivating the many people whose lives they touch to help them make the changes that are necessary to achieve this target.

We will have a plan that respects the large level of consensus that was achieved within the Oireachtas and that will build on that foundation that has been laid by the Citizens' Assembly and the all-party Oireachtas committee. We will deliver our target of reductions in 2030 and be able to work towards net neutrality by 2050. That will be the objective.

On the issues of funding individual sectors, people must recognise that there will not be Government funding for all the change that we need to make.

If that were the case, the bill for the State would be enormous. We have to find ways of supporting, motivating and giving people incentives and access to smart finance to allow these changes to occur. Of course, the State will have a huge responsibility, and every budget of every Department will have to be shaped, just as the mandate of every public body will have to be shaped, to respect and deliver our carbon targets.

It would be a mistake, as the Deputy will know, as a former Minster Public Expenditure and Reform, to approach this as if this was about the State coming up with a huge amount of money. This is something that we all have to work on together. Each sector, be it industry, agriculture, building or transport, must make these transitions. It is more than just a pot of money that is required. These are the deep changes in the way we approach key networks that serve our lifestyle.

As a former Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, I know that it will be about having an enormous pot of money, if we are to make these transitions. We are going to have to change the national development plan to ensure the enormous sums we are going to spend in the capital plan will be lockstep with our ambitions to reduce carbon, which we must acknowledge.

My questions are simple. Does the Minister accept that we have now an opportunity at local government level to lead on this and to try out new technologies, and at the same time to implement Just Transition, in order that we are retrofitting and eliminating fuel poverty? That has to go hand in hand also.

Will the Government be ambitious with local government in the document and set the sort of targets for 2030 of net carbon neutrality I have suggested? Does the Minister support and will he set up a Just Transition task force? Will he join me in welcoming which was for some the surprise announcement by IBEC that it has embraced the all-party climate action report? If industry is willing to put its shoulder to this objective, surely we should lead in the public sector by example.

We should absolutely lead by example and this is not limited to just one segment of government. We need to look at the power network, which is largely in Government control, and the arrangements for generating power will be dictated by the Government. That will deliver the 70% target, which is a massive change. It will require much infrastructural investment and change in the sort of things that people have to recognise are part of that. Renewable requires wind interconnection and many of the things we have found it difficult to deal with.

It will not be limited to local government. Every public body, be it in the health, the education or the transport systems, will have to recognise that it has a pivotal role, not just in decarbonising its own activities but in supporting communities to make these transitions. There will be a need for innovation, not just in local authorities but right across the public sector, to ensure that at CEO and top management level in every public body, it is recognised that one of its obligations is to see that we meet carbon budget obligations. We all know we need to meet fiscal budget obligations. The approach of carbon budgeting will introduce a shift in the way we think about our challenges. It is really important to emphasise that it is not just about finding new fiscal resources to change but about changing the way in which each and every Department prioritises its work, which will be reflected in the plan. We will recognise the challenge of Just Transition.