Government’s climate bill deemed a ‘missed opportunity’

The Government has been accused of watering-down green commitments in new climate change legislation.

The Climate Bill has been branded a “missed opportunity” by opposition TDs and campaign organisations. Trócaire warned the legislation was too “weak” to make a major impact.

“Climate change is a major driver of poverty throughout the developing world. The Oireachtas environment committee produced a report with excellent recommendations but the key elements have been ignored in this weak and disappointing bill.

“The one-year deadline to produce a national mitigation plan has now been extended to two years. The last national climate change strategy expired in 2012 and now we are told that we may have to wait until 2017 for its replacement.

“The poorest people in the world are suffering as a result of the failure of wealthy countries to place any urgency on this issue,” Éamonn Meehan, executive director of Trócaire, said.

Stop Climate Chaos branded the legislation as “deeply disappointing”.

“This legislation is urgent, Ireland’s emissions are already off-track and we are two years without a climate action plan. It’s now up to TDs and senators to fix this bill and pass it into law as quickly as possible,” said a spokesperson.

Green Party leader Eamon Ryan said the failure to set out long-term targets for reducing emissions was worrying. He said: “The new bill contains nothing but vague aspirations and will undermine investment and confidence in the development of a greener economy.

“Under the legislation, the first climate plan will now be required in 2017. The Government have effectively washed their hands of the issue.”

Michael McCarthy, Labour’s chair of the Oireachtas environment committee said:

“This legislation means that Ireland will be one of only a handful of countries in Europe that have legislated and committed ourselves to meeting our EU 2020 carbon emission targets in law. Crucially, this bill will ensure that Ireland’s EU targets become our national targets and ensure a clear pathway for emissions reductions in line with our negotiated EU targets.”