Client: Department of the Environment, Climate, and Communications
EnvEcon Decision Support provided a screening for Appropriate Assessment (AA) on Ireland’s Long Term Climate Action Strategy (LTS). The LTS sets out Ireland’s climate targets and indicative sectoral pathways for climate action on the short-term horizon to 2030, aligning with the National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) and Climate Action Plans (CAPs), and then charting pathways for the long-term horizon to 2050. There is recognition that the shorter-term pathways are, of course, relevant to the longer-term outcomes. Ireland’s LTS is focused on delivering positive environmental outcomes in line with the national climate goals.
AA is defined under Article 6 of Habitats Directive 92/43/EEC. Article 6 of this Directive is primarily concerned with the protection and management of Natura 2000 sites. Natura 2000 sites are special conservation areas across Europe that have been defined as being particularly important in the context of protecting and supporting Europe’s most valuable and threatened species and habitats for current and future generations.
An AA may be required in the context of Habitats Directive 92/43/EEC, where a given plan or project “not directly connected with or necessary to the management of the site but likely to have a significant effect thereon, either individually or in combination with other plans or projects, shall be subject to an appropriate assessment of its implications for the site in view of the site’s conservation objectives.” The screening process for the AA is first to determine if a given plan or project can be excluded from further AA stages on the grounds that it is either directly connected with or otherwise necessary for the management of the site.
