I thank the Chairman and members of the committee for the invitation to meet them today. I very much welcome the opportunity to set out my approach to the development of national climate policy, and I look forward to hearing the views of the committee and to working with it in the coming months and years.
Before I get into the policy agenda, I would like to thank the sub-committee for its co-operation in approving the Supplementary Estimate which the Minister of State, Deputy Fergus O'Dowd, presented last week. Fast-start finance is the term applied to the commitment in the Copenhagen Accord on foot of which developed countries undertook to make US $30 billion available to assist developing countries in the period 2010 to 2012. As part of the overall EU commitment to contribute €7.2 billion to the fast-start finance package, Ireland undertook to contribute up to €100 million during the three-year period. Taking last week's decision into account, we have now delivered €76 million towards that commitment.
The object of fast-start funding is to assist developing countries in addressing climate change. As the Minister of State, Deputy O'Dowd, explained last week, it constitutes an important demonstration of good faith by developed countries and acts as a downpayment on the longer-term commitment to assist developing countries in deploying clean energy, reducing deforestation, and adapting to the inevitable impacts of climate change as a result of current and historic greenhouse gas emissions.
I know that the Minister of State, Deputy O'Dowd, set out how the additional €10 million approved last week will be invested, but for Members who may not have been present at that sitting, I am happy to repeat that €8 million will be channelled through the Global Climate Change Alliance, which is administered by the European Commission, and the remaining €2 million to the Least Developed Countries Fund, which operates under the 1992 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Both funds specifically target least developed countries which are the most vulnerable to climate change, least responsible for the threat it presents, and least able to pay for the necessary adaptation measures.
Last week, I had the honour of representing Ireland at the high level segment of the 17th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Durban, South Africa. After what turned out to be, by any standards, a marathon session, I am pleased that the conference ended with a decision that represents a major step forward in mobilising a comprehensive global response to climate change. The nucleus of this hugely positive and encouraging outcome was the decision to establish the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action, a process or roadmap to develop a new protocol, another legal instrument or an agreed outcome with legal force that will be applicable to all parties to the UN climate convention. The new instrument is to be adopted by 2015 and implemented from 2020. The significance of the decision was captured by the UN Secretary General when he pointed to the fact that the roadmap, which is seen as a major weapon in the fight against climate change, for the first time will bring all major greenhouse gas emitters under the one roof.
As the party that proposed the roadmap approach to a comprehensive global response to climate change, the outcome was a major success for the EU and its acknowledged leadership in the international negotiations under the UN climate convention. Key to that success was an alliance which the EU successfully forged and sustained with small island developing states and least developed countries. Work on developing the new instrument will commence next year under a new body, established under the convention, which will be known as the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action.
In return for agreement on the Durban Platform, the EU agreed to enter a second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol. It is unfortunate that a number of key countries who are parties to the convention, including the United States, Canada, Japan and the Russian Federation, are not in a position to join the EU and other parties signing up to the second commitment period. EU leadership on the second commitment period ensures the continued operation of the Kyoto Protocol and avoids a gap in the international response to climate change at the end of the current commitment period in December 2012. It also protects the architecture of the protocol for consideration in the context of developing the planned new legal instrument. Further details of the arrangements to mobilise the second commitment period will be developed during the course of next year. Participation by the EU and its member states will be underpinned by internal EU policy and commitments.
From a national perspective, there were important decisions at the Durban conference on agriculture, and land use, land use change and forestry, LULUCF. Since taking office, I have been highlighting the need for more joined-up thinking on agriculture and climate change. After an intensive round of negotiations during the two weeks of the conference, I am pleased that the final outcome included a decision to consider issues related to agriculture, with the aim of exchanging views among parties and adopting a decision at the next conference at the end of 2012. Since the convention was adopted in 1992, almost 20 years ago, this is the first time that agriculture will be addressed in the international climate change process. I am hopeful that the decision in 2012 will lead to a comprehensive international work programme on agriculture and climate change in terms of mitigation and adaptation.
On the land use, land use change and forestry sector, an important decision was adopted on new international rules for forestry carbon accounting in the case of pre-1990 forests. Agreement on these new rules, which will apply for the post-2012 period, followed four years of intensive negotiations and will allow the climate change mitigation benefits of the forest sector and forest products in Ireland to be fully realised.
To conclude on the Durban conference, I should acknowledge that a great deal of the detail on the post-2012 international regime and how it is likely to affect or influence internal EU policy development remains to be worked out. Of particular and immediate importance to Ireland is an anticipated internal EU proposal from the European Commission on land use, land use change and forestry. These developments will have an important bearing on the national climate policy agenda and I will be happy to meet the committee again to reflect on further developments at EU level and in the wider international process.
Members will be aware that on 3 November, I released the review of national climate policy undertaken by my Department. The review is intended to create a basis for a national debate on further policy development with a view to meeting our low carbon commitments and objectives in the medium and longer term. Against the background of the National Climate Change Strategy 2007-2012, it sets out our current position on meeting our mitigation commitment for the purposes of the Kyoto Protocol and the major challenge we face in further reducing emissions in the period to 2020 and beyond.
Much of the national climate debate in recent times has been of a very difficult and polarised nature. It is my view that this will not serve anyone well and that we must seek to build broad support for the steps that need to be taken if we are to meet our binding obligations under EU and international law; play our role within the EU and at the wider international level to combat dangerous climate change; and achieve our aspirations as a progressive and competitive player in the emerging global green economy. The review seeks to form the contextual basis for such a debate. It is an important stock-taking exercise in terms of the progress that has been achieved to date in reducing national greenhouse gas emissions and the deeper reductions to which Ireland, as a member state of the European Union, is already committed in the medium and longer term.
The basis for any discussion or debate of future policy must be the national greenhouse gas emissions profile. It is somewhat unusual in a European context due to a number of factors, including a very high level of agriculture emissions, mainly associated with ruminant livestock; a relatively low proportion of emissions falling within the EU emissions trading scheme and a low population density coupled with a tendency for dispersed settlement that encourages car ownership. In 2010, provisional estimates showed that the agriculture, transport and energy sectors accounted for 71% of total national greenhouse gas emissions. When we probe deeper into that figure and exclude emissions covered by the EU emissions trading scheme, agriculture and transport alone made up about 69% of remaining emissions, with a further 17% from the residential sector.
This "non-ETS" sector, as it is known, is where Ireland has a target of achieving a 20% reduction on 2005 emissions by 2020. There are also intermediary targets for each of the years from 2013 to 2019. The challenge is significant and serious and must be dealt with in a manner that has regard to our specific national circumstances. Lessons from other countries must certainly be considered, but it would be folly to think that what works elsewhere provides an easy or appropriate solution for Ireland. We must make progress on the basis of what will work best for Ireland in meeting our greenhouse gas mitigation obligations in the medium and long term, and in pursuing new growth opportunities in a low-carbon future.
The review shows that Ireland is on track to meet its commitments in relation to the Kyoto Protocol. In line with the national climate change strategy, this is being achieved through domestic emission reductions supplemented, on cost-effectiveness grounds, by carbon units, including units acquired through the flexible mechanisms provided for in the protocol.
I fully acknowledge that the economic downturn is also a contributory factor in this regard, as evidenced in the significant drop in emissions in 2009. In issuing its most recent greenhouse gas emission projections last April, the EPA made no bones about stating that Ireland cannot rely on a recession to meet its greenhouse gas mitigation obligations in the 2013-2020 period. The challenge is formidable. An immediate priority is to fully implement current policy and achieve all that is expected in terms of carbon reductions. However, that will not be enough, and a ‘distance-to-target' in 2020 of the order of 4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent remains, even in the most optimistic scenario.
To assist members in appreciating the scale of this gap, the building regulations recently introduced are expected to result in an annual saving of about 0.2 million tonnes per annum by 2020, the equivalent of just 5% of the projected gap. Given Ireland's unique profile and the ever growing penetration of renewable resources in our energy system in particular, increases in economic growth would not necessarily go hand in hand with increases in emissions. That said, there is a valid concern that a return to improved economic growth will inevitably lead to an increase in national greenhouse gas emissions. Addressing this prospect is a policy development priority.
In our efforts to return to stronger economic growth, it is of the utmost importance that we embed rigorous sustainability requirements in economic and environmental terms. If we get our growth strategy wrong, we run the real and significant risk of locking ourselves into an environmentally unsustainable future that will undermine our credibility on environmental grounds and our competitive position in the medium and longer term. The deep cuts in emissions that will be required in the period to 2050 represent a huge challenge for Ireland, but an early and effective transition to a low-carbon path holds out the prospect of a real opportunity to demonstrate environmental credibility and achieve competitive advantage in the emerging global green economy.
The review was a stock-taking exercise, a state of play assessment at a particular point. In issuing the review, my intention was to move the focus on to the next steps towards meeting our commitments and pursuing our national objectives. In that regard, I have announced a three-pronged approach to develop the necessary policy mix to support an ambitious but realistic national mitigation agenda. First, an independent analysis - to inform policy development - will be carried out by the secretariat to the National Economic and Social Council. As well as setting out a range of mitigation policies and measures that can support the effort to meet national targets to 2020, the analysis will address the longer-term requirement for deep emission reductions across the economy in the period to 2050. I will initiate public consultation early in 2012 which will allow all stakeholders to engage in the policy development process. In addition to these two specific steps, I intend to continue to pursue further mitigation initiatives through the Cabinet Committee on Climate Change and the Green Economy, as well as with the Departments directly responsible for the sectors in which the most significant emissions occur.
I see this meeting as the first of what I hope will be a series of working meetings where we seek to develop a progressive and robust low-carbon agenda for Ireland. On that basis, I want to be direct and clear with the committee on the fact that there is no easy answer to the steep greenhouse gas emission reduction trajectory which developed countries must follow in the period to 2050. The review I published last month aims to ensure that our efforts, this committee's and mine, to initiate and lead a constructive national debate on climate policy development, particularly in the context of wider economic renewal, have a clear and informed reference point. The review is factual and I fully intended that it should not seek to influence the orientation of policy in any direction. There are no easy answers to the challenges we face, and my intention is to ensure that the ultimate decisions on the way forward will be taken on the basis of a fair hearing for all stakeholders and will enjoy the broad national consensus and support of an enlightened and progressive society.
I am determined to make progress on our transition to a low-carbon future, with a firm focus on the challenges and opportunities now and in the period to 2050. I intend to pursue progress as a matter of priority but not in narrow haste. Just as there are no easy answers, I am not convinced that there is a monopoly of wisdom in any one body but that a successful way forward lies in structured dialogue on the range of views across society. My direct appeal to the committee today is to join me in seeking to draw on those views and facilitate a positive and fruitful dialogue to put Ireland on a path that is sustainable in environmental and economic terms - a path which we can acknowledge with pride in terms of playing our part in a comprehensive global response to climate change and meeting our responsibility to the well-being and prosperity of future generations.
In the committee's deliberations, the question of climate legislation will inevitably feature, which I welcome and encourage. It is a key issue and I sincerely hope the divisive and damaging debate that occurred around the Climate Change Response Bill 2010 will not be repeated. Much has been said and written in recent weeks about climate legislation and I take the opportunity to set out my position. The language in the programme for Government is clear - we must develop policy first and underpin it with legislation as required. Attempts to legislate in the absence of policy have proved controversial and counterproductive in the past and have, if anything, distracted from the real need to cut emissions sooner rather than later and to plan in advance how we are to deliver on a long-term low-carbon vision for Ireland.
In recent months, I have met Government colleagues in an effort to encourage a new impetus to cut emissions. We have made some progress in this area, but more must be done. Many of the easier options have already been implemented and factored into the national projections. Closing the gap to our 2020 mitigation targets remains a challenge for Ireland and a commitment on the part of the Government. I appreciate the concerns among some that without legislation we will make no progress on either mitigation or adaptation policy. I also understand the wish to follow some of our European partners in developing flagship legislation in this area. I am duty-bound to consider the national situation. Our national emissions profile is different from most other EU member states and any new processes must take account of that reality. We do not have the broad base of support that exists in some other member states for this type of legislation. I want to be clear about what can be achieved and how it can best be achieved, before setting an institutional architecture in legislation.
In summary, I want to be absolutely clear on climate legislation. I fully intend to follow through on the commitment in the programme for Government to bring forward climate legislation within the lifetime of this Government, but it will be on a transparent and inclusive basis, informed by a robust assessment of the policy options. I have set out my approach to ensure that we develop the necessary policy mix to support an ambitious but realistic national direction towards a low-carbon future. Robust institutional arrangements will be essential to support the decisions we make on the way forward, but a clear understanding of how we propose to meet our commitments and pursue our objectives is essential to identify an appropriate support structure.
Our individual and bilateral deliberations on climate policy development revolve around matters of profound importance to the future of our country and its people. Transition to a low-carbon future is not a discretionary option. The issue is not whether we make a transition, but rather how we do it and how we ensure a speedy and successful outcome. Our deliberations and the decisions we need to make, and will make, are urgent but they must be taken carefully after full consideration of all relevant national issues, as well as our wider international obligations as a responsible society. I look forward to our collaboration as the national debate advances and matures in the weeks and months ahead.
