Decision Letter FOI Request Ref. 2021163
15 November 2021
I refer to your request dated 14 October 2021 made under the Freedom of Information Act 2014, which was received on 18 October 2021, for records held by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications. Your request was as follows:
Can you please provide, by email, all forest-based climate mitigation targets included in Ireland’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC’s) submitted, at any time since 4 November 2016, to the UNFCCC Secretariat in relation to the Paris COP 21 climate agreement.
Clarification 18/10/2021
Yes – I confirm that I am seeking the information requested under S12 (1) (a) of FOI Act 2014
I have discussed these records with colleagues who are responsible for working in the area. They have advised me that there are no forestry-based targets included in Ireland’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC). I have therefore – under section 15(1)(a) of the Act – made a final decision to refuse your request on 15 November 2021.
Section 15(1)(a) of the Act states that an FOI request may be refused if:
‘The record concerned does not exist or cannot be found after all reasonable steps to ascertain its whereabouts have been taken’.
You may however be interested to know that Ireland’s NDC is also the EU’s NDC which provides for an overall emission reduction target. All NDCs are available on the UNFCCC’s NDC website here, with the first NDC submitted by the EU in 2016 here, and the updated NDC in 2020 here. Ireland contributed to both of these.
Rights of appeal
If you are unhappy with this decision, you may appeal it. In the event that you need to make such an appeal, you can do so by writing to the Freedom of Information Unit, Department of Communications, Climate Action & Environment, Elm House, Earlsvale Road, Cavan, Co Cavan, H12 A8H7, Ireland, or by e-mail to foi.unit@decc.gov.ie.