Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 10 December 2015
3. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government his role in the recent climate change conference in Paris in France; his views on the comments by the Taoiseach at the conference that the European Commission's climate targets for 2020 for Ireland were unrealistic; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44255/15]
View answerThe Paris climate summit is attempting to prevent climate chaos as a result of global warming. Many people were very disappointed by the Taoiseach's comments to the effect that Ireland's emissions targets for agriculture were unrealistic and are fearful that the Irish Government is not serious about addressing the urgent threat to this country and to the globe.
I assure the Deputy that is Government is very serious about climate change.
The 21st conference of the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, known as COP21, is currently taking place in Paris and is scheduled to run until tomorrow when some 196 parties, including Ireland, will hopefully finalise a new legally binding global agreement on climate change. An ambitious global agreement is in Ireland’s interests, in that it will protect us from the impacts of climate change and allow us to pursue a transition to a low-carbon future on a level playing field with other countries. The Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Alan Kelly, is currently heading up the Irish delegation in Paris and assisting with the negotiations as part of the EU team.
Regarding our 2020 target, the latest EPA projections indicate that while we may come close to meeting our cumulative emissions targets for the period 2013 to 2020, due in part to overachievement in the early years of the period, our actual emissions in 2020 will most likely fall short of the headline target figure of a reduction of 20%. It was in this respect that the Taoiseach made reference to the significant challenges that Ireland will face in terms of meeting whatever targets are set for us in 2030. What compounds this challenge is the limited potential for mitigation in the agriculture sector and also the impact of the economic recession on our ability to invest.
However, the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015, soon to be enacted, gives a solid statutory foundation to the institutional arrangements necessary to enable the State to pursue and achieve the national transition objective of a low carbon, climate resilient and environmentally sustainable economy by the year 2050.
In the context of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015, the Government adamantly resisted including binding targets because it knew that with its current strategy, it was not capable of meeting the 2020 targets. The Taoiseach said that the targets are unrealistic and made a special plea for Ireland to be treated differently from other countries, even though the whole world understands the urgency of this problem.
I have a number of simple proposals which would help us to resolve this problem and meet our 2020 targets. First, the Government should massively expand the afforestation programme to mitigate the effects of agriculture.
We have achieved fewer than half the targets that were set years ago in respect of afforestation and the Government still has no real plans to increase activity in this area.
Second, can we just introduce a ban on fracking? Why would we even consider allowing fracking when we are trying to meet climate change targets?
We were commended on our climate change legislation, which was debated at length in the House. It provides a statutory basis for the national objective of transition to a low-carbon, climate-resilient and environmentally-sustainable economy by 2050. This has cross-Government support. The Minister made significant amendments to the legislation as it progressed through both Houses in response to the considered and reasonable arguments put forward. These amendments enhance its efficacy to make it even more significant and responsive to the major global challenge of our time. The Deputy will be aware of the key provisions in the legislation. There will be national mitigation plans under which afforestation will be considered and there will be national adaptation frameworks.
When one looks at the flooding engulfing huge parts of the country, one realises - given that this is happening so frequently - how serious this problem is and how much it is costing us. It is not a problem that will arise in the distant future; it is happening now. Our afforestation targets are pathetic. They are less than half of what they should be at 6,000 hectares per year when to achieve the forest cover we need, they should be twice that.
Will the Minister of State respond on the issue of banning fracking? There should be absolutely no consideration of fracking and bringing up gas and oil for health and environmental reasons when we have to meet these targets and the Government is pleading that it cannot meet them. It resisted binding targets in the climate change legislation.
I have given a detailed response regarding the whole-of-government response to the weather conditions over the past number of days. All the issues the Deputy has raised will be considered under the national mitigation plans and national adaptation frameworks and how we adapt what we are doing at the moment to how we respond to the weather events of the past number of days.
There is an energy paper and the EPA is doing a report on fracking. No decisions will be made, as far as I know, until the report is taken into consideration.
Under the low carbon development Bill, the first national mitigation plan must be produced no later than 18 months following the enactment of the legislation.
