Colleagues, I find it deeply ironic that this house is debating climate change today, as reports came through last night regarding a deal to support a minority Government – there was one major issue missing from the text of the documents – and that is climate change – the ‘Global Cause’ of this generation.
To me that demonstrates in particular that Fianna Fail, the co-conspirators in this ‘No Confidence’ agreement with Fine Gael, have absolutely no global focus, no environmental focus and that the poorest of the poor throughout the world who are suffering most from the effects of climate change, are absolutely nowhere on Fianna Fail’s radar. Incidentally, how this document took 70 days to write is incredible and astonishing. That’s 10 days per page! A 3rd level college was the right location for these talks, because the ‘Trinity Treaty’ is the greatest example of student politics at its worst.
Indeed it was my experience that over the course of the climate change bill, Fine Gael had to be dragged into the process reluctantly and did not take the principal of climate justice seriously. But at least they did something, Fianna Fail’s overall game is power, with absolutely no responsibility.
I regret to see that we are not witnessing the dawning of a new day of politics, but sure ‘maybe pints’ with the people are more important than the world’s poorest to Fianna Fail.
I would also ask those who call themselves of the ‘left’ to examine their climate change credentials when it comes to their water policy. Of all the things spoken about water in this house, the fact remains that the greatest energy user in the Irish public sector is actually our water treatment system. It consumes 490 giga watt hours of energy each year – that is a lot for those who don’t know.
I’m sure those who call themselves ‘left’ know exactly how to reduce energy usage in the water system without Irish Water and I await to hear their details. The truth, a cathaoirleach, is to reduce energy use in water treatment you need to develop a software system that monitors energy usage across the water system, then you need to put a modernisation programme in place underpinned by investment, upgrade old assets and drive innovations – something local authorities didn’t have the ability to do. The creation of this software is something that most on the ‘left’ have opposed for no logical reason. I’ve no doubt they oppose Irish Water’s energy target reduction of 33% by 2020 – which is now in doubt, which will be one of the single most significant carbon reduction initiatives for which the state has direct responsibility.
And then of course there is the issue of the Water Framework Directive and Article 9 – an environmentally focussed directive which I hope we can return to soon.
Just to say colleagues, one of the things I was proud of as Minister was to play a role for this country in the construction of the Paris Agreement in 2015. I had the honour of leading the Irish delegation during the negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change for securing a global agreement on Climate Change.
The Paris Agreement represents a hugely historic milestone; the first major multilateral agreement of the 21st century and one which paves the way for a global transition to low emissions and climate resilient economies. The agreement sent a signal that this shift is clear and irreversible.
Two weeks ago, I was at the United Nations Headquarters in New York to sign on behalf of Ireland the Paris Agreement on climate change. The Agreement was the result of unprecedented engagement by 180 global leaders in December 2015. It forms a legally binding commitment to pursue actions necessary to hold increases in global temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and to increase the ability of countries to adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change.
It is this document that in my view has the capacity to instigate a reshaping of the global economy.
The dynamic nature of the agreement is a key achievement, enabling us to strengthen ambition over time. Enhanced transparency and accountability will be a key feature in this regard.
There is unequivocal evidence that the Earth’s climate is warming and it is undeniable that the causes are manmade. This warming is causing discernible climatic and environmental changes: more frequent extreme weather events, such as the record rainfall events and consequent flooding in Ireland in December, rising sea levels and the melting of glaciers and polar ice.
In the longer term, these changes threaten to cause serious damage to our economies, our infrastructure and the environment and will put the lives of millions of people in danger and cause the extinction of many animal and plant species. Ireland’s contribution to tackling the challenge of climate change will be reflected in the EU’s commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40% by 2030, compared with 1990 levels and once our own targets within the EU goal have been finalised.
It is worth reflecting that the overall outcome of the Paris Agreement means that the long-term objective is to pursue substantial decarbonisation of the energy, transport and built environment sectors as well as pursuing neutrality in the agriculture and land use sector.
This long-term vision is a highly ambitious one, demanding real and meaningful change in how we live, work and travel. Achieving both our immediate mitigation targets up to 2020 and those that will be set on an incremental basis up to 2030, 2040 and 2050, will not be easy.
It was important in the context of the Paris Agreement to be able to point to the importance of our own climate change legislation – something that will again allow for a reshaping of our own economy over time.
The Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015 provides for such a framework. It establishes, in law, the national objective of transition to a low-carbon, climate-resilient and environmentally sustainable economy in the period up to and including the year 2050. It also provides a statutory basis for the institutional arrangements necessary to pursue and achieve that national transition objective. It is not designed to introduce new policies, but to put in place a permanent legal framework to make sure we in Ireland make progress towards decarbonising our economy and our society.
These arrangements focus on both mitigation and adaptation. Climate policy must not only address how we mitigate but also how we plan to respond to the impacts of Climate Change itself.
The Paris Agreement clearly recognises Climate Change adaptation as an issue that not only concerns the poor and vulnerable in developing countries - we are all affected by climate change and thus adaptation must also become an urgent policy priority. In this regard, the 2015 Act addresses both responses; mitigation of harmful emissions and adaptation to the consequences of a changing climate.
Reflecting the need for a whole of Government approach, the 2015 Act provides that relevant Ministers will be required to contribute, on a sectoral basis, to a national mitigation plan of which work is well underway.
I would like to take this opportunity to deal with the issue of carbon reduction targets for Ireland, something that commonly featured throughout the debate. Speaking personally and not for the Department, I believe there is a place for a long-term legislative target for emissions in Ireland – perhaps to 2050. But the introduction of such a target should only be considered once the EU 2030 agreement is complete.
Otherwise we are entering those negotiations with one hand tied behind our back. The focus on carbon reduction is not at the priority it should be and we will count the cost for this by way of floods, unpredictable weather patterns and loss of economic opportunities and a legislative target would help us mitigate that. However, we are correct to seek to sustain one of Europe’s most sustainable forms of food production – the Irish family farm.
Greenhouse gases emitted by human activities are warming the Earth and causing changes in the global climate. These changes are having increasingly severe human, economic and environmental impacts and will continue to do so over the coming decades. The cause of climate change and the case for mitigation and adaptation action in response to it are no longer in any doubt.
The signing of the Paris agreement sent an unequivocal message to business, stakeholders and citizens that all Governments are committed to playing their part in tackling climate change. Global motivation to accomplish our common goals in this area is steadfast: that resolve, underpinned by the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015, must be mirrored here in Ireland if we are to transform our ambitions and international commitments into meaningful actions in order to meet our targets and secure transition to a low carbon and climate resilient economy by 2050.
With the right political leadership this can be tackled. However I regret to say that I have not seen this addressed in the Fianna Fail/Fine Gael ‘Trinity Agreement’ to date. If Fine Gael are serious about helping the poorest of the poor in the world and in building a climate resilient, low-carbon economy, then I expect that climate commitments will feature in the future programme for Government – otherwise that would be a betrayal of the world’s poorest and of those communities including many in this country, that are currently living in fear of major flooding. It shows that leadership has been absent in the Government discussions to date. If we are serious about a low-carbon future, the Trinity Treaty isn’t much of a start.