Reduction in CO2 emissions welcomed but ‘no room for complacency’

Figures showing that global emissions of carbon dioxide from the energy sector have stalled are welcome but give no reason for complacency, Friends of the Earth Ireland director Oisín Coghlan has said.

The preliminary data from the International Energy Agency (IEA) showed that 2014 was the first time in 40 years in which there was a halt or reduction in emissions of the greenhouse gas that was not tied to an economic downturn.

The agency said there had only been three times in which emissions had stood still or fallen, since it started collecting data 40 years ago. All three cases, in the early 1980s, 1992 and 2009, were associated global economic weakness. However, last year the global economy expanded by 3 per cent.

Mr Coghlan said the new figures were good news and showed that policies that reduced emissions did work. But he said the figures had been accurately described as “not so much a step in the right direction, as an end to stepping in the wrong direction”.

"The main cause is China not expanding coal as fast as they were and yet expanding their renewables faster than before. So it's good that global emissions have stalled and it's good to see countries like China in particular taking actions that reduce emissions," he said.

“That gives the lie to those people who say ‘what’s the point in us acting if China isn’t acting?’ Well China is acting and the US and China did a deal last year which, while not anywhere near enough, is significant simply because they did a deal.”

He said global emissions would have to reduce every year for the next 40 years if climate change was to be contained. “At best, this is a turning point, but only if we have much increased determination to take action. There’s no room for complacency at all. If emissions started to go down next year then we would be potentially talking about a real turning point. It depends on the choices we make, as individuals and as countries, whether or not this is the start of a trend or whether it’s a pause before we gorge again on carbon.”

IEA chief economist Fatih Birol described the findings as significant. "It provides much-needed momentum to negotiators preparing to forge a global climate deal in Paris in December. For the first time, greenhouse gas emissions are decoupling from economic growth," he said.

Mr Coghlan said the European Commission had recently said Ireland was "off track" by aiming to reduce emissions by only 3 per cent by 2020 when it should be targeting a 20 per cent reduction. "The Government has given itself until 2017 to adopt a plan to reduce our emissions and that's after the next election so the Government's own plan is not to have a concrete plan to reduce emissions for the entire five years it's in office. It's absurd."

Mr Coghlan said the Government had at least published the climate change Bill. It is now going through the Oireachtas and he said the litmus test would be in how the Government accepted amendments to strengthen the Bill.