44.—(1) No later than six months after the Department lays the final statement for a budgetary period before the Assembly under section 39, the Committee on Climate Change must send a report to the Department setting out the Committee’s views on—
(a)the way in which the carbon budget for the period was, or was not, met,
(b)the action taken by the Northern Ireland departments to reduce net Northern Ireland emissions of greenhouse gases during the period,
(c)the progress that has been made towards meeting—
(i)the emissions targets that have been set by section 1, 3 and 4, and
(ii)the carbon budgets that have been set under section 23,
(d)whether those targets and budgets are likely to be met, and
(e)any further measures that are needed to meet those targets and budgets.
(2) Subsection (1)(c) to (e) do not require the Committee to set out its views on the matters mentioned in those paragraphs to the extent that they concern targets and budgets relating to periods of time that end before the report is sent.
(3) The Department must lay a copy of the report before the Assembly as soon as reasonably practicable after receiving it.