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IRELAND’S PERFORMANCE IN taking action against climate change has been ranked the worst in Europe, according to a new report.
The Climate Change Performance Index has ranked Ireland 48th out of 56 countries, with a score of 40.84, far below the EU average of 60.65.
The best score of the Index was obtained by Sweden, 76.28, while the UK came in eighth place with 65.92.
The report examined a total of 56 countries and ranked them across a number of criteria to assess, to what extent, their actions were in line with commitments under the Paris Agreement 2015.
Existing climate mitigation efforts will not enable Ireland to achieve either its EU 2020 or 2030 targets domestically.
“The longstanding lack of implementation of substantive measures to put the country on a well below 2°C pathway results in a very low rating for Ireland’s national policy performance”, the Climate Change Performance Index 2019 said.
An Taisce has said that this report is another “embarrassing blow to Ireland’s reputation as a good faith actor in terms of doing its fair share in tackling the global climate crisis” as it remains among the group of worst performing countries.
“To be ranked as the very worst in the EU28 is a stunning indictment of political failure to stand up to powerful special interest lobbyists as well as refusing to face down huge complacency and inertia within the public and semi-state sectors, ” An Taisce’s Climate Change Committee spokesperson, John Gibbons, said.
The report was more positive when it came to the most recent policies proposed by the Irish government, rating Ireland’s performance on international climate policy as medium.
“National experts commend the Irish Parliament for its leadership in deciding to pass the Fossil Fuel Divestment Bill, which is the first of its kind in the world, and for the innovative Citizens’ Assembly process which produced far-reaching recommendations for climate action now being considered by a special parliamentary committee working on the development of Ireland’s National Energy and Climate Plan.”
Despite the positive side of the report, Gibbons said it was worth recalling that the government went back on “even the most rudimentary step” of a small increase in the carbon tax in the recent Budget.
Assuming the moral and ethical argument for avoiding catastrophic climate change doesn’t convince the Taoiseach, perhaps Mr Varadkar can explain to the public the logic of instead paying over hundreds of millions of euros in fines to the EU from 2020 onwards for our abject failure to meet even our minimum legally binding obligations on emissions.
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0.23 % of world emmisions.. Keep preparing Paddy for money grab taxes , sorry , save the planet taxes..
@Sean Higgins: with 0.06% of the world population…
@Sean Higgins:
These are just the preliminary roll out news articles to butter you up.
Nothing stands in the way of a good FFG mug tax opportunity. The guilt trip specialists.
You should all be ashamed of yourselves…now cough up like good lads…it’s for your own good.
@Sean Higgins: Yes the “Climate change, Global Warning, Ezone Hole” tax scam winging its way to a middle class taxpayer near you.
@Sean Higgins:…….am digging out that old Yellow Vest as we speak.
@Milk The Drones: we should take the French example people power
There are people working who can barely make ends meet
if the world had the population density of Ireland, the planet would be a much better place. We should tell these over paid wonks to get their own houses in order. Ireland has a pop density of 70 per sq km, the UK is 395 per sq km. We don’t need to beat ourselves up
@Dave Dublin: while population density has a big effect on air quality and the like, what does it have to do with greenhouse gas emissions? If we are all producing a certain amount, what difference does it make if we spread ourselves out a bit more?
@Dave Dublin: Sweden is 23.
@Dave Dublin: doesn’t change our appalling record on climate change.
@Dave Dublin: Like population density is something we planned, kinda accidental. Na! don’t beat ourselves up, leave it to the grandchildren
@The Bob: just what I was thinking. Just because you put a bottle of whiskey into a bath full of coke doesn’t make you less pisht
Great – here comes mores taxes in the shape of carbon tax – with the burden on squarely us, the individual tax payer and not industry.
@Smidgen Dublin: Varadkar is best friends with Trudeau, who is aggressively pushing a carbon tax in Canada. Monkey see, monkey do. And before anyone cries bigotry, that’s an expression going back to the 20th century
@PC Principal: Good informative video for anyone who’s interested https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZH4m-Cs-u3Y
@Smidgen Dublin: The taxes are there to get you to change your behavior. You can’t make it incessantly cheap to be a polluter and expect someone not to be.
We had a literal drought this year that cost the country over €100 million in emergency agricultural supports and a huge freeze which shut the country down for the best part of a week. Climate change is here and only huge behavioral changes are going to stop it.
@ForeverFeel1ng: Industry should change its behaviour so we as consumers can help change our behaviour. I understand the principal not they imposition on individuals BEFORE industry.
@ForeverFeel1ng: And what would you do if the themes was frozen over this winter and every winter for a couple of decades, have a meltdown. There have been very hot weeks and very cold weeks before, like alot of rivers freezing over in winters around 250 years ago. What a drama queen.
@George O Neill: Monckton has been a dedicated peddler of hot wind for many years. But there’s plenty of debunking videos out there though like this nice one from Potholer54:
https://youtu.be/fbW-aHvjOgM
In reality we’re one of the most carbon friendly nations on the planet. Our problem is the IPCC don’t allow us use grassland as a carbon sink, otherwise known as Carbon sequestration. It’s estimated that 2tonne of carbon per hectare is taken up by grassland per annum. I think it’s 76% of our land surface is grassland, multiples that of the EU average – hence our problem
The headline is ironic in that Ireland has the lowest carbon footprint per kilo of milk solids produced in the EU and indeed the while northern hemisphere. This debate re climate change is much more to do with politics than actual science
@Seamus Hughes: I think it’s more to do with us killing the fkn planet myself.
@Seamus Hughes: “In reality we’re one of the most carbon friendly nations on the planet. ”
This report?
I worked on a research project at an Irish university that aimed to reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions from agriculture in Ireland, in particular dairy farming. So I’m interested in Prof. Gerard Kiely’s recommendations, made in a brief 3 page press release published by the Royal Irish Academy in 2014…
However, there’s very little research into this proposal (or criticism) published. So I don’t know what to make of it. That said, it seems to make a rather sweeping statement that (all) grass pastures sequester CO2. But that is not universal, as it depends on soil type and drainage conditions. Indeed, the press release recommended undertaking a project to assess the ability of grass pasture to store carbon; see how this is affected by soil type and farming practices.
Significantly, most of our grass pasture is used to rear cattle, for beef and milk. Cattle directly produce methane, a powerful greenhouse gas 86 times more powerful than CO2. Also, some of the 400,000 tons of fertiliser used on Irish farms (including Dairy and Beef Farms) contributes to greenhouse emissions because some breaks down and emits nitrogen dioxides, another powerful greenhouse gas 268 times more powerful than CO2. So grass pasture used for Dairy and Beef is not carbon neutral, far from it.
From the research I was involved in, if I recall correctly, an increase carbon sequestration on dairy farms may be achieved by changing farm practices (e.g. timing of fertilizer application in relation to weather conditions) and encouraging dairy farmers to physically move their farms to more suitable soil types. The second option, however, would likely meet with resistance unless is it’s shown that money is currently lost rearing cattle on unsuitable soil types and drainage conditions. This objective, moving farms, to be balanced with other objectives such as increasing food production and dairy farms competing with arable farms (tillage & cereal), sheep, pigs etc., forests, hedgerows, and the need to protect wildlife, and rivers, lakes and groundwater.
So, it’s not as simple as just lets grow more grass.
@David Jordan: Most of the latest research suggests that grass fed beef has lower emissions than feed lot beef but just slightly. They bought produce way more emissions than any other food source on a per calorie/protein basis. Its always the things that taste nicest that are bad for us.
@Seamus Hughes:
Carbon sequestration thats fine as long as you don’t cut the grass or have a cow eat it ? if you do you release the carbon or turn it into methane which is many time worst than CO2
@Darren Byrne: there is way more bullshi* coming out of leinster house than from the national herd !!
@TheJeff: Jeff the carbon is stored in the soil of grasslands so cutting or grazing is merely managing that pasture
@Dermot Foley: rubbish: ireland isn’t killing anything, by any measure.
@David Jordan: David you might also add that methane levels have not increased in 20 years, you also may add that the natural methane cycle is many times shorter than Co2 and thus regarded by many in the scientific world as a relatively neutral GHG, ie As a unit is released into the atmosphere another is broken down. People may split hairs on the exact science but the reality is that Ireland produces food in a more environmentally efficient way than any in Europe and yet the narrative would lead people to think differently
@Seamus Hughes: Regardless of how good you think we are (we aren’t by the way) we should strive to improve!
And yes, while soil does take in Carbon, any agitation to the soil releases Carbon and at the moment they’re releasing more than they’re taking in.
Just because we have a low carbon footprint for milk (I’d like a source please) doesn’t mean it instead a colossal use of clean water and leads to other climate altering factors like methane or nitrous oxide emissions.
@Seamus Hughes: It doesn’t make it go away though – As soon as the grass is consumed, cut, burned or composed – its back in the air… so only a temporary measure..
@Criodán Ó Murchú:
https://www.epa.ie/pubs/reports/air/airemissions/Ire_GHG_Emissions_1990_2012_P_McKiernan.pdf
See page 6
Irish pastures are not ploughed for an average of 15-20 years and then immediately put back in pasture, in contrast to the annual ploughing of the big wheat and cereal producers of Europe.
The Irish dairy industry is at the cutting edge worldwide of efficiency, it has to be to survive. Therefore we already have excellent technologies in genetics etc to continue to rapidly improve and reduce further the GHG emissions per kg of food produced.
This is a political problem for Ireland not an emissions problem
@Seamus Hughes: “David you might also add that methane levels have not increased in 20 years”
False: Methane levels did not stop increasing.
30 year trend – https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/Mlo_ch4_ts_obs_03437.png
and
1000 year trend: https://www.methanelevels.org/
Why did you think that?
About 1/3rd of Ireland’s greenhouse gas emission are from agriculture, it’s an important problem. How do we decrease emissions while at least maintaining or increasing food production.
@Seamus Hughes:
Thanks for that, interesting to see that.
However, the fact is our emissions of other gases are accounting for damage to the environment.
We all have to make sacrifices, even on our tiny island.
@David Jordan: to cut Irelands milk production without cutting World dairy consumption is like banning electric cars in Ireland knowing this would lead to another country increasing diesel cars. It makes no environmental sense.
We may tax it so
@eoin carroll: “if you can think of a better way to govern, I’d like to hear it”
@Joe Phillips: how about rewarding us for doing good instead of punishing us for doing bad
@eoin carroll: I meant that ironically, paraphrasing a Simpsons quote. Probably should have put ‘govern’ in [square brackets] to signify the altered part of the quote. The original quote is Apu’s response to an ice delivery man who suggests the work involved in harvesting ice from the North Pole demands higher prices for the ice. (They lost 4 more men on their latest expedition).
Apu is set in his ways though. I was drawing a parallel between that and our long-standing public “servants”
@eoin carroll: Nothing will ever be said about the giant cow in the room. Farming will always be ignored here, but it has to be sorted out. It’s shocking that they constantly talk about Joe Soap, who do the best they can and obviously try to save as much money/energy as possible, all the while ignoring farming and peat station emissions.
@Joe Phillips: How about not developing massive data centres for tech giants like Amazon and Google, which increases our electrical demand to breaking point, with minimal benefit to our economy
@Joe Phillips: completely missed that my bad
@eoin carroll: moaning and beaching in the comments section of the journal doesnt constitute ‘a good job’
@PC Principal:
Is it the Apple data centre that was down on the planning application to be run on 100% renewable energy?
@Patrick Nolan: I’m sure its that new one that’s going to be providing hot water to homes in Tallaght.
@Patrick Nolan: Not without pulling those resources from other consumers. But what is the benefit of these facilities to Ireland in the long term?
@eoin carroll: I recycle everything possible from my household, only make necessary trips in the car. I’m pretty sure most of the population is the same judging from the busyness of the recycling centers etc. but us mugs will be the ones to bare the brunt of this in our taxes. Hit big businesses first. Not the average shmo
@eoin carroll: They already do but no one ‘does good’. We are the only country in the world with 100% free public charging infrastructure for electric cars yet we can barely sell 1,000 of them.
@ForeverFeel1ng: think that esb /electric ireland has changed their stance on the whole ‘free charging’ and is now going to charge you to charge !!!
We have our electric bill including a levy which subsidizes renewable energy, which is good, but it also subsidizes using peat for electricity production. Peat is actually worse than coal for CO2 and is also awful for air quality (not sure is it better or worse than coal for this). This really doesn’t make any sense from an environmental perspective at all.
@The Bob: We need the SEAI to get off it’s ass and start giving proper incentives and less red tape in order to get a grant for renewables. The hoops you have to jump through make it not easy for consumers and installers alike.
@The Bob: that’s why they’re pushing ahead to have all the peat harvesting stopped in the next two to three years which is much earlier than first planned.
@Darren Byrne: I knew that they were phasing it out but didn’t know that they upped the timeline. Some good news I suppose.
@Simon O Flaherty:
Not much point in giving out more grants if the cost of installation goes up by the same amount.
Agreed on the red tape.
@The Bob: there’s only 2 small peat power plants still running if I’m not mistaken and both due to close in the near future if not done so already.
@Simon O Flaherty: it’s simple licence contractors to do the work set a price for solar panels heat pumps etc.and knock the grant off the price. The contractor claims the grant
@Simon O Flaherty: You can get over €4,000 in grants for a house insulation and solar panels installed. No one is taking it up though because it is much easier to just keep pouting.
@ForeverFeel1ng: except that even with grants for external insulation a 3bed semi-d costs roughly 14,000. It’s not about it being easier per se, it’s just that with most people living pay cheque to pat cheque, it’s more likely that they will have the ready cash to buy fossil fuels, and can’t commit to 350 pm over 5 years to repay a 14k loan.
@The Bob: what about the people who lost their jobs
STOP What do the colours on that map mean ? We are the same colour as USA, Canada and Oz. Sweden and India the same colour, China yellow ??? Like China, India and Brazil are paying a carbon tax lol Africa is off grid as China colonises its resources while building its infrastructure. Whats the relevance of that world map ?
@Chewey Bacca:Couldn’t mean Ireland behind India surely ?(lol)
@Chewey Bacca: seeing as we are bottom of the european table and we are red along with america who are also in the pockets of the lobbyists, i would say the stronger the colour on the map the worse the offender… red is bad, yellow is good. you need me to tell you the names of each country too?
@Brianto: I think it’s a fair comment. Poor journalism to include a graphic without comment on it. No need to be condescending.
@James McLoughlin: oh I disagree completely
@Brianto: That’s extremely condescending..chewy made a good point there..I’d be very surprised if India has lower emissions then Ireland per capita and is an equal to Sweden,where everybody drives electric cars..and China performing better then Ireland with their industry!!..no chance
@Chewey Bacca: @Brianto: That’s extremely condescending..chewy made a good point there..I’d be very surprised if India has lower emissions then Ireland per capita and is an equal to Sweden,where everybody drives electric cars..and China performing better then Ireland with their industry!!..no chance
This is absolute nonsense. China and India yellow and green!?
China accounts for 14% of the worlds carbon emissions.
The top 100 companies in the world account for 70% of the emissions. None of them are based here.
This is a crazy skewed model based on mickey mouse policy chatter and not real scientific pollution and emission data (which we know other countries companies faked before).
We do need to tackle things here like water quality, illegal dumping and industrial scale peat cutting for profit masking as “personal home heating use” but to suggest we are a red country in the scheme of what the rest of the world is doing is a disgrace.
This needs to be attacked from the highest level.
@Ciarán FitzGerald: China now produces more solar, wind and hydro power than the US and EU combined. The target for solar (105 Gigawatts) was reached 3 years ahead of schedule. It’s also building 13 nuclear power stations right now and it wants to double the proportion of energy provided by nuclear power by 2020. China’s 2020 carbon reduction target ahead of schedule. Almost 1/4 of China’s energy needs are now provided by energy sources that do not emit CO2 – 20% renewables and 3% nuclear and it will grow to nearly 50% or more by 2040.
@David Jordan: India the home to dying tankers beached and cut up with acetylene torches ,wires burned etc etc
I have done some research on this today.
We produce 5 times more Carbon emissions per person here than in China. That is poor.
They have 18.54% of the worlds population and produce 14% of emissions. We have 0.06% pop and 0.23% of the emissions.
We should take a leaf from their energy book. Amazing things happening from the source above.
@Ciarán FitzGerald: Also you missed the whole point of the index. It is looking at steps taken by governments to reduce emissions, ours has done very little.
@Darren Byrne: our government have done nothing other than tax us, the major producers of emissions in this country is from farming and mainly cattle but our crap gov wont even attempt to tackle the farmers but they are only to happy to tax the rest of us and how taxing us will actually solve anything I don’t know?
@Ciarán FitzGerald: ..good point : anyone double-check the German data…….they kinda have form on this, like…..
The propaganda started with the help of the media
@David Clarke: Ah yes,the day’s when journalists asked questions.
“Ireland ranked best in Europe for introducing carbon taxes”
And there’s still feck all investment in a decent nationwide charging network for electric cars, or a proper segregated cycling infrastructure to encourage people out of their single-occupancy combustion-engine cars
@Steve B: and where does the electric come from?green resource? No
@Steve B: It’s going to take a lot more than pedal power and electric cars to get Ireland out of this mess!
Taxing Gas, diesel and petrol even more than the massive 65% tax we already pay will hit the lower income middle and working people the hardest, those who can’t aford expensive new EV’s.
Cycling infrastructure is non existent, roads are too dangerous for families to cycle on. Bicycle theft is rampant, and secure bike parking is non existent.
We have almost no native wood forests only commercially grown pine, less forestry than almost all of Europe.
There’s more cattle in Ireland than people.
Ireland has a very very long way to go and get emissions down.
@Steve B: I’d get out of my car and onto a train in the morning but…
@Dermot Foley: Yep we’re up to nearly 30%. Also because of the much higher efficiency rates power stations have from burning fossil fuels over engines electric cars have about a third of the co2 generation of petrol or diesel. Also all the myths about the manufacturing process negating any benefits have be debunked.
@Ananya Sharma: Same here, I’m sure hundreds of thousands of people would prefer to use Public transport that take their car to reduce the emissions but in this backwards country, public transport can take 4-5 times longer than taking the car.
Invest in a proper rail infrastructure (Underground!!!) in the major cities and things will get better
@Adam Johnson: whats public transport ?
@Darren Byrne: they’re not debunked whatever about being held hostage to OPEC, being held hostage to a much smaller of Lithium sources by basket-case economies is worse.
@John Moylan: Well go on then show how they a new petrol car will result in less Co2 over its life time than an equivalent electric. Also its not the lithium that is the problem its the availability of cobalt. However the difference is that once batteries are no longer useful they can be recycled unlike the oil.
@Darren Byrne: why new ? With an 03 & 01 car in this house your “new” EV would have to put O2 into the atmosphere. …the first rule of sustainability : reduce (manufacture), reuse (keep it going), recycle (hand on down, don’t scrap it).
@John Moylan: its moot point, all cars get replaced eventually as well as an increased demand for the overall number. When those new cars are EV’s rather than petrol or diesel it is more environmentally beneficial. But lets just compare your 03 or 01. When it was built it there would have been Co2 emissions so you can just compare emissions on running it which the comparison would be huge.
Also your point about putting O2 in to the atmosphere? There’s plenty now some O3 maybe beneficial but I don’t think it needs come from cars.
@John Moylan: Environment aside, benefits those with respiratory problems… or who breathe in general.
Building data centres for US tech companies which increases our electrical load by giga-watts, with minimal job introduction. Why are we doing this, it’s lunacy
@PC Principal: Firstly we’re not building data centres for US tech companies they are building them. They are providing jobs in the construction phase as well. They pay council rates on those buildings and provide a lot of money to the local councils. They try to use as much renewable as possible. Amazons plants in Dublin will begin supplying hot water for heating to homes in tallaght, again local community really benefitting there. All this electricity they are buying is being levied with the money being put towards improving Irelands renewable resources.
@PC Principal: Actually, the tech companies are quite good when it comes to renewables and energy efficiency.
I can almost feel the taxes.
Eamon Ryan – Not the hero we want but the one we need…
@Phil O’ Meara: he has more air miles clocked than an astronaut. His carbon footprint bigger than 50 peoples.
@izotope: And as for his emissions…
@izotope: The plane is flying whether Eamonn Ryan is on it or not.
A data Centre uses the power equivalent of 200k and provides very little jobs after construction. This is fact, but we jump through hoops to attract these facilities.
@Hugh Corcoran: 200k homes
Sur if it was anything else, our gov would make sure we wouldn’t hear about it (through the irish media anyway).
That’s nonsense. Ireland is doing brilliantly. We top the charts in everything from health to housing. Maybe if people got up a bit earlier in the morning things would improve.
What exactly has wind farms done for the country ????? We have the highest Electricity charges in Europe. We get a load of waffle from govt and people who benefit from windpower ie the companies that cost the tax payer a fortune to establish these farms and then charge a fortune from the free electricity.
@Marcus o Dhonnghaile: The whole wind farms and climate change thing just went right over your head there Ted.
Large, offshore wind farms, they have hydro rams at the base and pick up wind like any other wind turbine, the things generate energy 24/7 and usually they’re too far out to hear, or hit you with a flicker.
@Ben Coughlan: they’re also more than twice the cost of on shore wind farms
@Ben Coughlan: their efficiency is terrible though which is why they are not being implemented, maybe when tech can increase it an par with current wind turbines it may be an option.
No surprises here given the p density wait for the tax hike in next budget the low to middle income people will get another hammering rip off Republic
This is an awful load of bo&&ocks, another opportunity to fleece people again and again.
One woodburning stove is equivalent to six diesel trucks parked outside in terms of enviormental damage.
@Pat Hannon: source?
@Pat Hannon: 6 euro6? one euro6 truck has less emissions than an electric vehicle. Source commercial motor using research showing true emission values.
@Pat Hannon: 1 cow is equal to 6 diesel trucks, 2 horses, and a chicken.
@izotope: or 70 Honda 50’s
@shellakybooky: Gary Fuller’s new book The Invisible Killer. It’s discussed on Radio 4′s Start the Week today… Start the Week – Trees: a wood wide web – @bbcradio4 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0001hj7
@shellakybooky: Source can be found in the DUP statement on the cash for ash scandal , the paragraph about the wood pellets..
@Pat Hannon: no it’s not. The wood absorbed CO2 when growing. This CO2 is realised when burnt. This therefore balances out making stoves emission neutral.
@Pat Hannon: burning wood is seen to be environmentally friendly. So long as you are burning wood in your wood burning stove then this is an environmentally friendly way of heating a home.
@izotope: thats ALMOST equal to the amount of bullshi* produced by 1 td every hour !!
@Hugh Corcoran: no its not. London brought in the congestion zone to create cleaner air. 1 million wood burning stoves later they’ve found out their emissions worse than diesel cars….
@Mjhint: Something that burns fuel to run has less emissions than something that doesnt burn any? Love that logic.
@joe: Only it’s not.
Hear that Leo, an embarrassing blow!
@Ananya Sharma: bet he has had a few of them !!
Too many steering committees, feasibility studies and ‘consultants’ here. No political will. Too many rich lads getting richer through fossil fuels, TDs included. Payoffs from oil companies etc.
So naturally we’re going to try and tackle this with a new tax…
I find it absolutely ridiculous this shite the government produces when the facts speak for themselves. If we eat less meat = less meat production = less earth rotting gases = less agricultural land and more (with some incentives) trees planted. Meat production, consumption and agriculture accounts for more gases than the oil industry. And before someone asks for sources – go and look it up yourself. It’s common knowledge.
@Dermot Foley: By look it up do you mean login to netflix and watch Cowspiracy?
@Dermot Foley: some basic research on your side wouldn’t go amiss : cows are dairy, not meat
@John Moylan: Some basic research for you. 6.6 million cows in Ireland only a sixth of that is for Dairy. Beef production produces 13 times the emissions of dairy products, so he’s right, eat less meat , less meat production less emissions.
https://www.businessinsider.com/the-top-10-foods-with-the-biggest-environmental-footprint-2015-9?r=US&IR=T
@Darren Byrne: do horses produce as much methane as cattle ? we have a hell of a lot of horse racing /stud farm in ireland – yet no one suggests getting rid of a few or all of them ! at least cattle provide us with food and milk – horse racing stables only provide a living for the owners and the bookies !
An increase in carbon tax goes no way towards decreasing use of petrol or heating bills. People will suck up the raise and carry on regardless. No political will here. We are surrounded by waves and wind. We could be self sufficient if we used theses free renewable resources. But oil is king.
To be fair, if we weren’t encumbered with a €200bn debt to bail out bondholders as instructed by the EU, then we might actually have some cash to put towards this problem!!
Climate change. Though i’m not disputing that it may be accelerated by various factors, is more an excuse for tax and lifestyle change being forced on ordinary people.
For all they talk about and all the warnings, that verge on panic, deforestation continues unabated, both legal and illegal. Fracking also, and that is doing huge damage to the earth’s environment, rivers and underground water table. Oil will still be produced, petrol and diesel still made, what’s going to be done with it? Plastics will still be made from oil, non biodegradeable, and will continue to cause huge pollution.
But no matter what’s done or said, no one talks about Hemp and how it’s use could go a long way to reducing the dependence on timber for paper and cardboard. Hemp oil for plastic and the plastic is biodegradeable. Hemp can produce textiles and much more. But it’s cheap and easily processed, there’s not the profit in it. Yet it would make serious inroads into many of the problems seen re climate change. But wars will still be fought over resources and pipelines. No one is going to tax war, or make all military vehicles run on battery power. Will our politicians go around in electric powered cars? Will they F…
There’s no balance, no innovation, no serious efforts being made to bring a halt to the many causes of pollution. All they do is impose tax and force control on people.
That’s what “climate change” is all about.
Totally skewed results. Big companies from Japan, US etc can buy carbon credits by investing in green in other countries, and count this at home as a footprint reduction. When you work in other countries you can physically sense the difference in air quality and see the level of carbon activity. Ireland is being stitched up, maybe by request, as a precursor to heavy carbon taxation.
Queue more taxes on fuel. Let’s gouge the citizens instead of doing anything really practical…
Irelands a tiny island. If we invested a tiny bit in battery solutions (powerwalls etc..) we would be green and self sustainable in a few years…we wont though because of jobs at Bord na Mona etc….
@tadhgkelleher: they’re going in the next 2 to 3 years. Peat harvesting is being phased out quickly because its the easiest way to reduce the fines. Also go have a look at he cost of those powerwalls and it wont be tiny bit. For every home to have one would be about 20 billion and you still have to generate the power to store in them. Adding more wind power to the national grid would be the cheapest. Also about a quarter of our emissions come from agriculture (cattle) and powerwalls wont sort that out.
@Pat Hannon: Pat I think you re excluding the carbon used manufacturing the trucks
@Paul: Not the mention the methane released by the 6 farting truckers.
Worst me hole. They can’t even go outside without masks in some middle eastern countries. Another excuse to throw taxes at us.
@Kath Noonan: they wear masks in those countries mostly due to allergies or to avoid infections.
@Sam Harms: the only ones that should be wearing masks in this country are the politicians -!!!
@Kath Noonan: rubbish. I’ve been to Tokyo where masks are common. ….and their city is spotless.
@John Moylan: That’s a societal thing,probably wearing gloves as well.
“and que the new raft of levies and tax’s -in 3-2-1 ! “
Tax cow farts..
@Patti o furniture: The cpt?
@Patti o furniture: The belches are worse for CO2 emissions…..
Its Time like some of the complying nations we used Nuclear power to generate our electricity!
Why are diesel cars still in production, if governments want to stop people driving them,end them, but you see that would mean tackling big companies which is too much like hard work so instead keep selling them and force the average joe pay what they don’t have, while the car companies carry on regardless… Its a disgrace how this is being lumped on the everyday person rather than stopping it at the root… Make people buy only electric from here on…
@MickN: No to mention the digusting price of an electric vehicle these days, the government grant for these should be at least 50%, but then the manufacturers will just jack up the price again
@Adam Johnson: Yes that’s the next problem an alternative needs to be produced all electric is still very young and not suitable for a lot of people as it is, even if hybrid was seen as the alternative for now then in 5 or 10 years when the electric only tech gets better and of course cheaper thats the next step … Governments are looking at the potential carbon money and tripping over themselves to start raking it in…
@Adam Johnson: I work for a company that builds electric cars. They are not ‘jacking up the prices’ it’s simply that long range batteries cost a huge amount.
If you’ve ever lived in a modern apartment you’ll know how much more energy efficient they are. That combined with not having a car and rarely eating meat can really reduce your carbon footprint and you barely notice. Our main emissions come from the choice to live in a house, drive and eat meat. We can change that easily and avoid more taxes.
Sadly this is not the most deeply embarrassing thing about ireland
@PC Principal: Most data centers are aiming to be 100% renewable meaning they are investing in renewable’s in our country. Personally I think they do a lot for the economy. As well as the people they directly employ they also give work to many vendors, supplies and contractors. There also looking at using district heating systems from the waste heat for the local community’s near data centers.
@James Ó Cianáin: District heating is a really good idea.
We’ve got to be the only country importing second hand diesel cars FFS
Almost as embarrassing as the way the country is run by this shower of a government.
Good it’s a complete load of nonsense anyway
@Stephen: Pull the other one young fellow. Since 1958, the Arctic sea ice cover has lost on average around two-thirds of its thickness and now 70 per cent of the sea ice cap is made of seasonal ice- the Arctic is the Earths cooler – without white ice to reflect heat back into atmosphere planet keeps getting hotter and hotter fuelling mega wildfires hurricanes and leave large parts of the planet uninhabitable.
Of course its not just Ireland the world is being consumed at a rapid rate. Just look at Brazil – So far, an area the size of Germany, Italy, Austria and Switzerland has already been deforested in the Amazon as their new leader Bolso plans massive deforestation of what is left of these trees that are needed more than ever to fight extreme climate. Just look at US Russia who plan to sabotage the latest climate talks by watering down the final agreement to make effectively useless. A 1.5 degree rise in temperatures is now likely by 2030, that may not seem much to most people but will be devastating for large swathes of the planet and create many millions of refugees that Trump is against – his policies creating the very thing he says he is against.
Stop airlines dumping fuel and make them pay tax on fuel. Make multinationals pay all fair share of taxes. Ban any engine over 2litre from households. Leave joe soap alone.
@Kath Noonan: my 3.6 litre is staying.
@Kath Noonan: oh, and, they dump fuel as a safety measure in emergencies You know, so you don’t die in a ball of flame, like
Joseph Goebbels: “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”
Not a word mentioned about the INM crisis
@David Walshe: Just won’t be published some day and that will be that. Beaker will be seen wandering aimlessly around the empty building.
closer to Boston than Brussels indeed
Power generation and transport both emit less greenhouse gases than cattle farming.
@Andrew Lyons: The thing is most of that meat is exported. If there was to be a tax on meat production I’d prefer to see it on consumption rather than production, like fuel taxes. Otherwise countries like Germany can put all their dirty polluting industries like recycling and meat production in other countries, then hypocritically consume and enjoy the products and punish the producers!
@Andrew Lyons: Wrong! According to the EPA, agriculture accounts for 29.2% of our greenhouse emissions, while power generation and transport accounts for 42%.
Ok let’s all jump on the band wagon now, so bleeding what we’ve just come out of a recession we had no money, the government need to eliminate vrt and road tax for all hybrid and full electric vehicles and give a nice big grant for these type of vehicles, 1 months Leos salary
If Ireland were taken off the map it would make no difference to the climate’
We are the only country in the world with 100% free public charging infrastructure for electric cars yet we can barely sell 1,000 of them per year.
This is why we need carbon taxes. The carrot isn’t working.
@ForeverFeel1ng: Most people can’t afford an electric car. And mining for the minerals used to make batteries is really polluting too. People should use public transport.
@ForeverFeel1ng: the electric cars won’t take you very far when people are commute 100k round trip imsge being stuck on country roads and no station to charge them
@Geraldine Fenton: The Nissan Leaf provides 360km of range on a single charge. Enough to get you from Cork to Sligo. If your commute is longer than that, god help you.
@SC: Renualt Zoe (299km range) available for sub €10k on DoneDeal. The average spent on a car purchase is €14,000.
People can afford it but are choosing not to. Hence why we need the taxes
There an easy way of sorting this, every electricity bill has a heap of charges and levies ,we rename them as environmental levy. No extra charges on hard pressed households ,government can claim they care about climate. Win win
@Cathal: I see what you did there.
Macron
Shoot the cattle. Sorted.
@yoser hughes: you are kinda on the right track. Shoot the cattle,the farmers shoot the people who shot the cattle, their relatives shoot the farmers whose relatives take revenge, cattle and human population is rapidly reduced therefore reducing emissions. Genius?
Must be all those Guinness farts
It isn’t realistic comparing us with countrys that have a higher density of population, we cannot run a public transport infrastructure like these more densely populated countries without making losses, we have no option but to use personal transport to do the necessities like going to work, doctors etc and buying an electric vehicle is still out of the reach of many people. Putting extra carbon taxes on fuel is only punishing people who have no other options at present and we as a nation should not be expected to match more densely populated countries and be calculated ”per capita” until we can have an infrastructure that puts us on a level playing field, there is multiple abandoned railways in this country for example which would have been kept open in other countries because they have the numbers to justify keeping them open.
Apparently some forms of farming can reduce carbon footprint, why can’t #irish farmers use http://smallfarms.oregonstate.edu/sfn/su12cfootprint, we could also copy Luxembourg and make all public transport free
hahahahah nothing new anyway! we are useless at this, no one will take it serious anyway
Taking after our silicon valley master’s. So much for the EU
Where do we rank regarding overall contribution to the problem?
@Charles McCarthy: 0.06% of population and 0.23% of pollution. That’s how we rank.
@Charles McCarthy: Why bother, what possible difference could one person make several billion people wonder…
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