Ireland must act to honour Kyoto, warns opposition
Significant measures must be put in place if Ireland is to meet commitments under the UN's Kyoto protocol on climate change, it was said today.
New data has revealed that harmful national greenhouse gas emissions have risen strongly over the past seven years.
Under the United Nation’s Kyoto protocol on climate change, Ireland was to limit its increase in emissions of six greenhouse gases to 13% above 1990 levels between the years 2008 and 2012.
However, the report from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) warned that the national greenhouse gas emissions exceeded the Kyoto target in 1997 and were 25% above the 1990 level in 2003.
“It was to limit itself to 13%. It is 25% up at the moment – that is twice the increase allowed under Kyoto,” Ciaran Cuffe, the Green Party’s spokesman on the environment, said.
“The price of buying your way out of the climate change agreement, the cost of those carbon credits, has increased dramatically since the start of the year. It will be hard for the Government to buy its way out.”
In the Environmental Accounts for Ireland 1996-2003 it was said that significant remedial measures were necessary to meet the country’s commitments under the Kyoto protocol.
Fergus O’Dowd, a Fine Gael TD, said: “It is now clear that Ireland is going to miss the deadline for Kyoto. It is a sad indictment of the Government and their attitude towards the environment that they will miss the target.”
The CSO report said the surge in the Irish economy over the past seven years has had a knock--on effect on the environment, with waste levels multiplying by more than 60%.
The latest Environmental Accounts revealed that harmful greenhouse gas emissions were up 12%, household and commercial waste was up 66% and energy requirements soared by more than 26% between 1996 and 2003.
Harmful carbon dioxide emissions increased by 22% from 35.6 to 43.5 million tonnes – with a 12% increase in the industrial sector and a 45% rise in the services area.
The accounts revealed that the highest increase was in the transport sector, with emissions increasing by 66% between 1996 and 2003.
