Delay of 2026 Climate Action Plan branded ‘absolute joke’ as publication again pushed back

The delay of the Climate Action Plan for 2026 has been described as an “absolute joke”, with the Government being urged to make haste and publish it. Minister for Climate Darragh O’Brien was expected to seek Government approval for a draft of the delayed plan on Tuesday. However, there is also a further process of environmental assessment screening of the plan. Once this is complete, it is due to go back to Government for approval and publication before the end of the year.

Green Party TD Roderic O’Gorman noted that O’Brien is travelling to the Cop31 climate summit in Antalya, Turkey, where he is to lead the European Union’s negotiations as part of the State’s presidency of the Council of the EU . “The fact that we haven’t had a climate action plan published here is an absolute joke. There is a legal obligation on the Government to publish an annual update in terms of the climate action plan. Time and time again, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael deny that they are retreating in climate action since the Green Party left government.

Yet this ... is just one piece of evidence of that continuous retreat,” said O’Gorman. Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore also mentioned the Cop31 talks and accused the Government of “talking out of both sides of their mouths” on climate action. “The fact that we’re in November and the Climate Action Plan for 2026 has not yet been published just goes to show exactly how little this Government cares about climate action,” said Whitmore.

The plan is the Government’s roadmap for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and meeting the State’s national and EU climate obligations. The Coalition has been late in publishing it for the first two years of its term. The 2025 plan was not published until April that year, but that four-month delay has been superseded by 11 months this year. Given that it is so late in the year, it is expected that the 2026 document will also incorporate the initiative for 2027.

It will have 18 priority areas, focusing on measures that would reduce emissions between now and 2030. The State aims to reduce national greenhouse gas emissions by 51 per cent by 2030 and achieve climate neutrality by 2050 under the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act. O’Brien has said, in an interview with The Irish Times , that the 2030 target is unlikely to be reached.