Introduction
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I’m delighted to be here in Galway.
Congratulations to all our sailors who have raced across the globe.
Congratulations too, to Galway on winning out over 81 other cities to host the finale of the Volvo Ocean Race.
I’m sure the experience of everyone here over the last few days confirms why Galway won.
The Volvo Ocean Race is a great boost for tourism in Ireland.
Giving us the kind of audience and publicity that no marketing budget could ever buy.
Galway went global this week. Billions of people all over the world got to see exactly what the city has to offer.
This finale of the “marathon of the oceans” is a welcome precursor to The Gathering we’re hosting in 2013, where Ireland will get another chance to showcase its world-class tourism product.
Sustainability Summit
Sustainability is what brings us here to the Global Village.
The International Sustainability Summit allows politicians, policy-makers, scientists, investors, entrepreneurs and citizens to think collectively about global issues that are of concern to us all.
Though our lives become infinitely more sophisticated through the centuries our basic needs stay the same: food, water, energy.
We realise that while too many in our world die of hunger and malnutrition, there are still more suffering and dying through obesity and excess.
Every day across the globe people scrabble in bins for food. In another city on the other side of the world food is dumped, as use-by-dates are reached, the packages never even opened.
None of this is sustainable. So, I’m pleased to be here this morning to open this International Sustainability Summit where we take a hard and different look at such things.
This summit gives us, an opportunity to highlight what Ireland has to offer in meeting the global sustainability challenge.
Today, Ireland services or manages 10bn dollars in Green assets.
We are looking to land, sea and air as sources of prosperity and energy. �
Here today, there will be speakers with a wide variety of expertise and experience.
Participants include a mix of all the key sectors who will drive Ireland’s green economy.
I welcome today, the representatives of some of the world’s largest, green, finance-investment companies.
I welcome, too, the representatives from some of the largest global ICT, engineering and energy companies, as well as from our leading indigenous innovators.
It’s from you and companies like yours that the technological and financial solutions for the green economy will emerge.
I believe this is a great time for government, society, the private and research sectors to work together to meet the sustainability challenge.
That’s why I’m so pleased to hear Stephen’s plans for a major conference next year in Dublin on global sustainability.
The low-carbon, Green economy is crucial to Ireland’s future. This conference will see us position ourselves as leaders in products and services in that area.
Sustainability
A few short weeks ago at Global Summit in Rio de Janeiro, the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Phil Hogan T.D., presented our new framework for sustainable development.
The Framework proposes actions to promote clean energy, more sustainable approaches to agriculture and transport, and for the best conservation and management our natural resources.
It advances the sustainability agenda in the area of social policy, with specific actions on health, education and social inclusion.
Our Sustainable Future also provides a platform for the development of the green economy in Ireland.
Growth and Jobs in Ireland’s Green Economy
As you know, jobs and growth are this government’s top priorities.
The Action Plan for Jobs 2012 has been the driver of Government action this year.
It contains over 270 individual actions across a range of economic sectors, which, when implemented, will make Ireland more competitive.
A key area of this plan is the Green Economy where we see significant growth potential over the coming years.
Globally, the green economy is a high value sector with the potential to grow by more than 4% per annum to 2015. In the longer term, the green economy is going to transform the global economic structure.
This presents great opportunities for Ireland as we seek to drive economic recovery and create jobs.
Renewable Energy
Ireland has excellent natural resources for renewable energy. The Volvo sailors could tell us all about the power of wind, wave, tidal energy out there on the Atlantic.
The Action Plan for Jobs and our Renewable Energy Strategy recognizes the potential contribution of these energy sources to the emerging green economy.
Ireland’s unparalleled natural resources in wind and ocean energy give us a superb opportunity to export clean energy to the UK and the rest of Europe.
Galway, of course, is playing a key role in Ireland’s renewable energy ambitions. Much of the work in this exciting area is being assisted by our own Marine Institute, which is headquartered here in Galway and ably led by Peter Heffernan and his team.
The locals here will know that Galway Bay is a very successful Test Site for wave energy devices, and supports some world-class technological innovation around renewable energy.
Agri-Food
Ireland’s ambitions for the green economy cross many other sectors, including financial services and agri-food.
I recently launched a very exciting initiative by Bord Bia, our food board, called “Origin Green”.
Our award-winning actress Saoirse Ronan is fronting the video campaign. It’s worth seeing. Excellent production.
Through Origin Green we show the commitment of Irish food and drink manufacturers to operating sustainably.
It will further enhance Ireland’s strong international reputation as a source of natural, high-quality food, drink and ingredients.
Green Finance
Ireland also has clear opportunities in relation to Green Finance.
Globally, investment in green-finance activities has increased to a record $263BN in 2011, up 6.5% from 2010 levels. Ireland is now emerging as a leader in green finance and asset management.
We have a world class international financial services centre, innovative enterprise companies with global networks, an emerging talent pool of green finance specialists and one of the best business environments in the world.
It’s easy to see how Ireland can benefit by focusing on opportunities in green finance.
Our Strategy for the International Financial Services Sector to 2016 includes the ambitious goal to develop Ireland as a centre of excellence in Green Finance.
The Green IFSC has been set as a public/private initiative up to target environmentally-related financial services and to make sure Ireland is the optimum environment where green finance can flourish.
Business Sector
But of course, the challenge for us in Ireland is to not just to manage green finance on behalf of global investors, but to actually stimulate investment into our own green economy.
This Government has been keen to highlight the potential of investment into Ireland’s green economy. That is why it is so important that, through initiatives such as the Action Plan for Jobs, Government continues to work with the private sector to explore opportunities and mechanisms for driving investment in Ireland’s green economy.
We recently published a plan on Green Public Procurement. Given that the annual procurement budget for the public sector is about €14 billion, over 10% of Ireland’s GDP,
Ireland’s public sector can play a very significant role in stimulating the marketplace to provide more resource-efficient, less polluting goods and services.
Ireland has a strong R&D base, which is crucial for developing innovative energy efficient products and energy management systems.
Our enterprise development agencies are actively supporting a range of companies engaged in the cleantech and greentech sectors, with great success stories.
The recent Global Cleantech Innovation Index 2012 ranked Ireland in the top 10 countries globally for cleantech innovation.
Conclusion
The future looks good for Ireland’s Green economy.
We have unparalleled natural resources in terms of wave and ocean energy, as well as enormous potential in areas like biomass and agri-food.
We have a private sector that is highly skilled, innovative and
entrepreneurial.
We have a financial-services sector that includes some of the world’s largest green finance investment companies located in and operating from Ireland.
We have a public sector that is committed to a whole-of-Government approach to developing Ireland’s green economy.
With sustainability, we build financial prosperity while we nurture our natural wealth.
With sustainability we fulfill our duty to our country and to our planet....
Our country’s... our planet’s future.... is right here... in our hands.