Enda Kenny to call for agreement on temperature rises

Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s speech to the United Nations climate change summit in Paris today will call for a strong agreement that limits global temperature increases.

Mr Kenny will be one of more than 120 world leaders who will address the COP 21 conference in the French capital today on the opening day of the 12-day summit.

His speech this afternoon will confirm Ireland is fully committed to the European Union target of a 40 per cent reduction in emissions by 2030.

He will also highlight the fact that Ireland will have climate change legislation in place by the New Year.

On the sensitive and critical matter of agriculture, which make up 30 per cent of all Irish emissions, he will reiterate the Government’s insistence that any measures do not “compromise our capacity for food production”.

He will argue that can be done by achieving “carbon neutrality” in the land sector (using carbon sinks such as forestry). He will say the Government is preparing a National Mitigation Plan to achieve that. The Government’s controversial stance on agriculture, for which it has made a special case, has drawn criticism from environmental organisations. For its part, the Government has said Irish agriculture is among the most sustainable in the world.

Another aspect on which the Government approach has been criticised has been climate finance.

Until last year, Ireland was one of only four developed countries that had made no contribution to the Green Climate Fund, along with Australia, Belgium and Austria.

In the budget, a sum of €2 million was allotted for 2016 but no firm commitments were made for subsequent years. There was expectations that Mr Kenny would include a concrete pledge of further specific funding to this fund for 2017 and 2018 and beyond. Such a commitment would have required a memo to Cabinet. However, sources say Labour and Fine Gael Ministers could not agree on the matter, and the issue never made it to Cabinet.

Mr Kenny will reference the €2 million contribution in 2016 and say it is part of a process with a view to building up Ireland’s support over the coming years. It is not known if he will specify any figures.

The Taoiseach will also refer to the €175 million committed to adaptation measures to 2020 and an increase in the Least Developed Countries Fund.

He is also expected to say the Government is examining how private finance can be used to help contribute to the goals.