Neville highlights importance of fulfilling our commitment on climate change

Fine Gael TD for Limerick, this week in Dáil Éireann highlighted the importance of climate change and setting realistic targets ahead of the passing of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill.

“The Government promised in its programme for Government to publish legislation on climate change with a view to its enactment before the end of the life of the Dáil. This Bill partly fulfils that commitment.

“Climate change is the greatest challenge facing humanity. It threatens the environment and economic development and the quality of life we enjoy. This generation will be remembered by how it responded to this challenge.

“The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has concluded that the evidence of climate change was unequivocal. It also shows how man-made emissions of greenhouse gases are driving climate change. Failure to take the necessary action on climate change will have potentially catastrophic effects in many areas of the globe.

“We can forecast the likely weather by monitoring the climate and this is important for many reasons. For example, in agriculture, it is essential to know when seeds should be sown, while planners and engineers need to have climate data in order that they can design roads, buildings and bridges in anticipation of the climate conditions.

“The Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Ann Phelan outlined that mitigation targets are already prescribed and will be agreed for all member states, including Ireland, on an incremental basis over the coming decades.

“Any agreement on targets must take account of Ireland’s specific circumstances and be achievable, fair and economically sustainable. In this regard, specific recognition was given to the multiple objectives of agriculture and land use, including reference to ensuring coherence between the EU’s food security and climate change objectives.

“It is important that Ireland develops a clear and coherent path to meeting our EU targets and the Government would prefer to concentrate efforts on achieving a single target, namely, that agreed with our EU partners, while incurring the least cost for the Irish economy.

“Targets can only be realised by putting in place appropriate and proportionate mitigation measures across the sectors with the most significant emissions.

“Agricultural emissions account for well over 40% of our emissions under the trading scheme. Emissions per capita appear comparatively high because of the size of the national herd. If we look at carbon dioxide emissions alone, Ireland’s emissions per capita are only marginally above average for the EU 28, at 8.295 tonnes per capita, as against the average value of 7.345 tonnes per capita.

“Considering that Ireland, by virtue of its location and low population density, does not have access to many of the public transport and heat distribution options available in mainland Europe, this is a creditable position and reflects well on the actions that have taken place. Ireland’s actions in reducing carbon dioxide emissions are having an impact.

“We know that climate change exacerbates many existing problems and affects most acutely those who are already marginalised or vulnerable. Our aim must be to provide for practical actions. That is what the Bill is doing by putting in place a framework to ensure robust mitigation policy measures will be developed in a timely fashion.”