Micheál Martin: We do not accept that it is too late to reverse climate change impacts

Tue, 02 Nov, 2021 - 15:40

Pádraig Hoare, Environmental Correspondent In Glasgow

The Taoiseach has insisted he “will do everything in his power” to ensure a so-called ‘just transition’ for people worried they will be left behind when it comes to climate change.

Addressing fellow world leaders at the Cop26 climate change summit in Glasgow, Micheál Martin said: “As leaders, if we are to bring people with us on this journey of a lifetime, we must also recognise and respect the real anxiety that many people feel when confronted by such an enormous challenge.

Our young people worry that there will be no worthwhile future for them to inherit. Workers worry that their jobs will disappear, leaving them without a livelihood. Consumers, already feeling the impact of energy price rises, feel that the transition will be too costly for them to bear.

“In response, I say I will do everything in my power, working with all of the leaders here today, to make sure that it is not so.”

Just transition is the term used to describe making sure employment opportunities and societal benefits are present for those who may live and work in communities tied to legacy energy industries, such as coal mining or peat extraction.

Mr Martin confirmed that Ireland would increase its commitment to climate finance - aid to less developed countries to assist in adapting to climate change - to €225m annually by 2025, up from €93m.

“Those of us in the developed world – those who have, frankly, contributed most to the problems that confront us all – have an obligation to support those who are most acutely challenged by their consequences. Ireland accepts that obligation,” he said.

Mr Martin said the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report that showed incontrovertibly that humankind had contributed to the heating of the planet was evidence that tackling the climate crisis was urgent.

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“The scale of this change is unprecedented. But, as the report made clear, it is not too late.

"Human actions still have the potential to determine the future course of climate, the very future of our planet.

“To achieve our Paris goals, immediate, large-scale reductions in greenhouse gas emissions are essential. Unless we act now, we will not keep the possibility of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees alive.

“The scientists are playing their part, in helping us to understand the dynamics of climate change and in developing the technologies and responses we need to limit its effect.

"As political leaders, it is our responsibility to put the necessary policies in place. Ireland is ready to play its part."

He pointed to the recently enacted Climate Bill to put a legally binding target of reducing Ireland’s emissions by 2030 to 51% below 2018 levels.

The Climate Action Plan with carbon budget targets will be unveiled this week. The first budget for the period 2021-2025 aims to reduce emissions by 4.8% on average annually for five years, while the second from 2026-2030 will look to up that annual cut to 8.3%.

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The carbon budgets include all greenhouse gases and allocate emissions ceilings to the likes of motorists, households, farmers, businesses, and industry.

Mr Martin said: “We will reach climate neutrality by 2050. We are working closely with our EU partners in the green transition that will make Europe the first climate-neutral continent. We are implementing a statutory system of carbon budgeting and emissions ceilings for each sector of the economy. We are working at the UN Security Council to put the destabilising impacts of climate change firmly on the agenda.

We do not believe or accept, as some would have it, that it is too late; that the transition will be too costly; that it is inevitable that we will leave people behind; that someone else should shoulder the load.

"We believe in the immense capacity of humans to work together and to achieve great things.

“We can achieve a cooler world. A biodiverse world. A world with healthier air for us to breathe, healthier soil for things to grow in. A world in which people can live more sustainable lives, handing a healing and enriched planet to future generations.

"We can create a world in which human impact on all parts of our ecosphere – the land, the sea, the air - is brought back into balance.”

Acting decisively now, he said, “will offer humanity the most valuable prize of all – a liveable planet”.