Sir, – It was reported (Home News, February 25th) that the Coalition now believes it has fulfilled its election pledges with its Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2013 published this week.
Your paper also reported that the Government has decided not to set 2030 and 2050 targets to reduce CO2 emissions because “nobody knew how (such targets) could be achieved and what implications they would have for Ireland”. However, the answer to this question is simple.
Anyone with even a limited understanding of how embedded and vital fossil fuels have become for our economy and society will know that the transition towards a low/zero carbon world by 2050 will have enormous implications for every aspect of Irish life. And achieving this goal will be very difficult!
Once again the Government appears to be kicking this hugely important issue further down the line. Which I believe is an act of enormous political cowardice.
Two weeks ago, our Government was able to restructure the debts of Anglo Irish Bank with long-dated government bonds and postpone the repayment of any principal until 2038 with the last repayment falling due in 2053. All this was done without knowing anything about the implications such a course of action will have for Ireland in 2050.
Surely we need to manage our CO2 targets in a similar fashion? The Government must set clear long-term targets to reduce CO2 emissions now and work hard to build a solid national commitment on how we might achieve these targets.
The time for a strong climate law is now. It is unequivocal, the climate change challenge is the most pressing issue we all must face this century. Even if we don’t want to admit it. – Yours, etc,