Leader and Environment, Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee member Clare Bailey MLA made the call following the latest Northern Ireland Carbon Intensity Indicator report.
She said: "The report doesn't provide the full picture on local carbon emissions and rate of decarbonisation. The reality is that, when it comes to emissions reductions, we are falling farther and farther behind the progress being made by our UK counterparts. We can and should be doing much more to transition to a low carbon economy.
-- Advertisement --
"For its comparatively small size, Northern Ireland has actually increased its share of UK emissions. Scotland, on the other hand, has decarbonised faster than the UK as a whole from 2008 to 2017. England has reduced emissions by 46%, Scotland by 45%. Northern Ireland lags behind with a 20% reduction.
"There are some chinks of light for Northern Ireland in this report. For example, the energy sector has achieved a 46% decrease in Greenhouse Gas Emissions from 2004 to 2018. But in the age of climate breakdown, Northern Ireland cannot continue to fall back when it comes to carbon emissions more broadly.
"That's why it's critically important that we enact specific climate change legislation for Northern Ireland containing emission reduction targets for every sector of the economy. This week, I laid a ground-breaking Climate Change Bill for Northern Ireland including an aim for us to be net zero carbon by 2045."
