Environment Minister John Gormley has said that the 1 per cent decrease in carbon emissions last year last year was welcome but did not compensate for his sense of frustration at Ireland's "painstakingly slow" progress in
reducing carbon emissions.
Announcing his second Carbon Budget in the Dáil, Mr Gormley disclosed that the EPA's provisional figure for 2007 show that total carbon emissions were 67.9 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, a fall of 700,000 tonnes compared to 2006.
The bulk of the fall was accounted for falls in the energy sector as well as by increased afforestation (forests act as carbon sinks). However, the EPA figures also show that there were further increases in the key areas of
transport, agriculture and waste.
Following the Budget day announcements of energy efficiency measures for homes, the €200 parking space tax; tax breaks for cyclists, and a €200 levy on second, and holiday, homes, there were few additional measures announced by Mr Gormley today.
He announced that a €5 million fund was being made available to upgrade cycle paths in Dublin, €3 million of which will be spent on the city centre portion of the proposed Sutton to Sandycove cycling route. The remainder
will be spend on upgrading existing cycle routes.
Beyond that, there were a number of new strategies and targets unveiled by Mr Gormley. However, none of the announcements were accompanied by firm budgetary commitment.
Both Fine Gael and Labour described the Carbon Budget as a failure. Phil Hogan, the environment spokesman for Fine Gael castigated the Green Party saying it had sold its soul for a bicycle scheme worth €200,000.
"The Carbon Budget is a waster of time," he said. It is an opportunistic and damaging money grab from the commuters of Ireland that will have little effect on Ireland's greenhouse gas emissions."
His Labour counterpart Joanna Tuffy said that the news from the carbon budget was there was no carbon budget.
"Why Environment Minister John Gormley insist on continuing with the charade that is his 'carbon budget' is beyond me.
"Most of the announcements he made referred to deferred action or proposals that he is looking into that he might get around to," said Ms Tuffy.
On the longer-term ambitions, Mr Gormley said that the target for the amount of energy being generated from renewable sources was being increased from 33 per cent to 40 per cent by 2020.
He also said that his colleague, Energy Minister Eamon Ryan, will be unveiling a strategy in the coming weeks aimed at having up to 10 per cent of Ireland's road fleet electrically power by 2020.
"The aim is that Ireland should be among the early movers in expoiting international advances in electric vehicle technology," he said.
He also accepted that it would be impossible to meet the State's long-term greenhouse gas targets without significant emission reductions in agriculture. However, no major measure to lower emissions in this sector has yet been announced.
Overall, the projected figures for 2009 is for a modest 400,000 or 0.5 per cent reduction in emissions. Cumulatively this falls far short of the average 3 per cent fall in emissions which was one of the key priorities for the Greens in the Programme for Government.
Ms Tuffy said it was "particularly disappointing that Mr Gormley is now undertaking to purchase 4.6 million tonnes of carbon credits annually, instead of the 2.58 he predicted in last year's carbon budget."
Mr Gormley said he had always accepted that carbon credits would have to be purchased but said he wanted strong emission-reduction measures introduced to minimise the number.
"I am being upfront. We do need to be more radical. That's not an admission of failure. What I am saying is that there has to be more radical measures taken. We are making progress but it's painstakingly slow," said Mr Gormley.
"It is frustrating because it is slow," he said.