Political courage needed to address climate change, warns transport expert 

Computer generated image of the Cork light system.

Political courage, huge State investment on cheap borrowing terms for ambitious projects like the Cork light rail, and mass electrification of the remainder of the transport network is now needed urgently to tackle emissions.

That is according to one of Ireland's foremost experts on transport, Trinity associate professor of civil, structural and environmental engineering Dr Brian Caulfield, as he laid out what course the country needs to be on in the wake of stark projections of the effects of climate change globally.

The Waterford native told the Irish Examiner that progress on revamping and rethinking Ireland's transport network was hamstrung by political short-termism that meant calculated risks to reduce emissions were unlikely.

"Take the light rail system envisaged for Cork. Micheál Martin doesn’t want to be the Taoiseach that happens to be from Cork as Patrick Street is dug up in preparation for the light rail, if there is an election, because the city will look a mess and he won’t want the political fallout from it."

Sláintecare for transport

Dr Caulfield said a Sláintecare for transport, along the lines of the reform of the health system, was needed, with all parties coming to a consensus before a strategy was locked in.

The delivery last December of the first 10 double-deck hybrid buses for use by Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann. File picture: Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ie

"Transport cycles don’t go in five-year cycles, that is why we need a locked in masterplan that encompasses all parties and stakeholders, so if it is Mary Lou McDonald, or someone else, as taoiseach in the future, there is no changing course."

He said nixing big public transport concepts on the grounds of cost was no longer viable grounds to do so, considering the damning report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that showed the planet was on course to break a 1.5° rise in global temperature within years due to human activities.

Dr Caulfield, who has appeared on a number of occasions to advise the Oireachtas Climate Committee on transport, said: "Big investment by the State is required, and then the big subsequent change in behaviour by us has to follow. The light rail system in Cork definitely should be done.

We know we need to reduce the number of trips we are making, we need to shift to sustainable modes of transport, and improve whatever is left through electrification, using hydrogen and all these alternative fuel types.

The kind of cost models that used to justify, or not, something like the Cork light rail system are outdated, he said.

A volunteers helps firefighters to extinguish the burning blaze of a forest fire near in the village of Avgaria on Evia (Euboea) island, on Tuesday. Picture: Angelos Tzortzinis /AFP via Getty Images

"You really can’t look at it on a 30-year basis. That is typically how long we evaluate transport projects. We need to look in the longer-term as a framework – how we reduce emissions in those 30 years, and then how we build sustainable modes long into the future. Instead of immediate costs, we need to look at the cost of not doing it.

"We should have had the Metro in Dublin running for 10 years at least by now. What emissions have been put out into Dublin in that period? What was the emissions cost of not doing it?"

Big-ticket items like the light rail for Cork or the Metro for Dublin will take a number of years, so we need to break ground on them as soon as possible, Dr Caulfield said.

CLIMATE & SUSTAINABILITY HUB