Varadkar should delay adopting ‘inadequate’ climate change plan

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar should delay the adoption of an inadequate and unambitious national plan that aims to address climate change, a new campaign group has said.

The National Mitigation Plan, the first Government strategy in 10 years to cut climate pollution, "would be one of the first things across the new Taoiseach's desk", noted the group which includes non-governmental development agencies; environmental organisations, faith-based bodies and students.

They are collectively advocating for Irish climate action in line with the Paris Agreement and the UN’s sustainable development goals.

Under the 2015 Climate Act, Minister for Environment and Climate Action Denis Naughten had to submit his final mitigation proposal by last Saturday. He said this week it would contain 100 actions across Government, and would be published shortly.

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Speaking at the Energy Ireland conference in Dublin on Wednesday, Friends of the Earth (FoE) deputy director Kate Ruddock said "the draft climate plan was hopeless". More than 3,500 people had made a submission "asking for a new plan to make us proud".

“We think Leo gets climate change, in the same way other leaders of his generation do. But so far Ireland’s climate action is closer to Trump than Trudeau,” she said. “This new climate plan is the first test of whether the generational shift in political leadership will actually mean a step change in Irish climate action.”

‘Moment of opportunity’

In the letter to the Taoiseach, the group said his appointment represents “a significant moment of opportunity to reset and strengthen Irish climate policy”.

Over the past 20 years, climate action had been undermined by an implementation gap; while certain measures from prior national strategies had been implemented, “many were delayed or not implemented at all”. This was despite the extent of evidence highlighting the considerable social and economic costs of inaction on climate change.

The group’s analysis of the draft mitigation plan on climate change showed that if Ireland is to meet its national and international climate and energy commitments, and do its fair share of action to adhere to the principles of climate justice, “a significant increase in ambition” was required.

The Climate Act stipulates the plan must identify the manner in which Ireland will meet obligations on the State under European law and international agreements. “Given the shortcomings of the plan, we are particularly concerned that there has been very little political and public debate – despite it being a critical component of public policy,” the group said.

Final plan

The content of the final mitigation plan would signal how seriously the Government was in “playing its part”, former taoiseach Enda Kenny said previously.

But to achieve the objectives of the Paris Agreement, “at the very least it needed to detail how Irish emissions will decline significantly year-on-year over the next five years and beyond to 2050, and fulfil the provisions of the Climate Act”, the group said in its letter.

It urged Mr Varadkar to ensure the Government gave the plan careful consideration and if it remained inadequate to the challenge, to use the Act to take the necessary time to modify it before its adoption.

The letter is signed by Michael Ewing, co-ordinator of the Environmental Pillar; Suzanne Keatinge, chief executive of the association of Irish NGOs Dóchas; Catherine Devitt, policy co-ordinator of Stop Climate Chaos Coalition which includes FoE and Annie Hoey, Union of Students in Ireland president.