Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 28 February 2023
57. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if he can clarify the Government’s plan to deal with recent Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, figures that show increases in CO2 emissions in the State, and that Ireland is the worst performer in the EU, according to EUROSTAT data; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10335/23]
View answerThe Minister of State is probably aware of this but on Friday, 3 March, the climate movement will be back on the streets for the first time in a long time. I am delighted to see Extinction Rebellion and FridaysForFuture taking the climate crisis seriously and marching from Parnell Square at 12 noon to this House. I want to ask the Minister of State to please clarify for me and them the Government’s plans to deal with the recent figures from the EPA that show that Ireland has a very significant increase in CO2 emissions and is the worst performer in the EU in emission reductions, according to EUROSTAT?
I also am happy to see climate protestors on the street. The voices of young people are often lost and what we hear instead are the reactionary forces against any climate actions we try to bring in. To see people cheering and going out to prove they care is motivating.
Finalised emissions data for 2022 are not yet available but recent reports have indicated that Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions increased in 2021 and may also have increased in 2022 as we emerged from Covid-19 restrictions. The EPA’s models for projected emissions do not take into account all policies and measures which have been committed to in our climate action plans, and these reports suggest a concerning trend, which underlines the urgency with which we must respond to the climate crisis. To reverse the current trajectory of emissions and meet our 2030 and 2050 targets, we have to accelerate the implementation of policies that will not only decarbonise our economy and improve our indigenous supply of sustainable and renewable energy but we also have to support new ways of conducting business and encouraging innovation.
The Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021, significantly strengthens climate governance in Ireland and the sectoral emissions ceilings set out a clear pathway for meeting our carbon budgets, as well as Ireland’s commitment to a 51% reduction in emissions by 2030. These ceilings are reflected in the Climate Action Plan 2023, which was published on 21 December 2022. The 2023 plan builds on the 2021 plan and sets out the policies, measures and actions needed to keep us within our carbon budgets and on the pathway to a climate-neutral economy no later than 2050. I note the establishment of climate delivery task forces to accelerate and drive delivery in a number of key areas regarding our climate action including offshore renewable wind energy, heating and the built environment, and sustainable transport. These will serve to support our focus on accelerating the implementation of meaningful and impactful climate action.
Far from being on target to cut our greenhouse gas emissions by 51% by 2030, or by 5% per year, according to An Taisce, which is littered with eminent scientists on this issue, we are on track to exceed the combined ten-year carbon budget by between 23% and 36%. That is exceeding the budget and we are on track to do that. The climate movement will not be cheering the Green Party. Almost three years into its decision to prop up Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael in government, we are beginning to see clearly what a disaster that has been for the climate movement and crisis. Not only are emissions rising but the spin the Government is committed to will lock in and guarantee failures.
I want to talk briefly about that for electricity, which was mentioned earlier. Our demand for electricity has risen by 9% and uniquely in Europe, that is driven by the demand from data centres. We have 16 more data centres coming on stream that will be hooked up to the national grid. How can the Minister of State say we are taking climate action seriously when we are in these energy-intensive areas and using up our best energy?
It takes all parties to solve this problem. This is not a partisan issue and it will not work if one party takes it one way. It does not work if parties condemn or denounce one another. It works if we can constructively work together. I am not long in politics but the Deputy knows that I am committed to climate action and that it is all I have thought about for most of the last 20 years. Therefore, it just bounces off me if I get accusations that I do not really care or want to do this. It is just not true and everybody who knows me or who has ever worked with me knows it is not true. Our parties and our Government are committed to climate action. We know what the different areas are that we have to work on to get there. It is not easy, it cannot be entirely done by Government and it requires the corporate sector to do its part. We have to regulate and tax the corporate sector and we have to push it into doing its part because it will not do it otherwise; it has no reason to. It also takes action from the public. It means we have to change our entire culture in order that we can carry out these things.
I did not want the Minister of State to take my criticism personally. They are political criticisms and they are criticisms of the Minister of State's party propping up a neoliberal and right-wing set of parties. Those parties are bound to fail on climate because they believe in the capitalist model of doing business and economics, as the Green Party apparently does because it voted against every measure that any progressive element of the Opposition has tried to bring in, including curbing the proliferation of data centres, to mention but one. It is not a personal criticism of the Minister of State; it is a criticism of the politics that are driving the climate agenda in this country.
That is why the young people on the streets on Friday will be demanding system change. That means changing our economic system and priorities, as well as our environmental priorities because if you do not change the economic priorities then you are going to see global banks continuing to fund fossil fuel corporations to the tune of $3.8 trillion to explore and extract more fossil fuels. The signs on the planet are very worrying. We are seeing natural systems in the process of falling apart and these are systems that have held the planet together. The Minister of State and I know this and we have been watching this but the Minister of State is in government and I am not so I have every right to criticise him for his failures.
The Deputy has every right to criticise me and to ask questions. That is part of our system, I welcome that and I am not being defensive but we need to work constructively together to solve these problems.
Stop voting against our measures.
What are we doing for climate action? We have four major areas: transport emissions; heating and building emissions; electricity emissions; and agriculture emissions. As the Deputy is aware, we are trying to revolutionise our transport system and we are trying to move people towards public transport. We are cutting public transport fares and we are spending €2 in public transport investment for every €1 we spend on new roads. The Deputy knows that we have significantly increased our investment in retrofitting and that the majority of our retrofitting spend goes on free upgrades for people who cannot afford it. The Deputy knows we are building more renewable energy infrastructure, including more solar and wind than was ever put on the grid, so that at some points we are generating 80% to 90% of our electricity from renewable sources. These are huge and significant changes and people notice it when they find that their bus fare is half of what it was before.
