Mary Robinson: 'We tax-exempt what’s killing us, would you believe it?'

Mary Robinson has called on the Government to invest so that it will be more affordable for people to 'go green'. 

Mary Robinson has warned that some tax exemptions were “killing us” and that reducing subsidies could have huge consequences for some people.

The former president said that the most recent Cop was the first time that there has been language about the phasing out of fossil fuel in the text, which she described as “significant”, however, she warned that some subsidies need to be carefully thought out. 

“When we talk about subsidies to fossil fuels, I want people to understand because I've only recently understood it myself. There are two kinds of subsidies," she told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland.

"The production subsidies to fossil fuel companies are actually tax exemptions. We tax-exempt what’s killing us, would you believe it?

“And the other type of subsidies are subsidies on consumption. And you have to be very careful there in removing those subsidies because you could put people into energy poverty or into real poverty.

“So that's one difference will be done very sensitively with real thought.”

Mrs Robinson, who is also Chair of The Elders, an independent group of global leaders working together for peace, justice, and human rights, acknowledged that the fossil fuel lobby had been present at Cop26. Among them was Saudi Arabia, which “always plays a very bad game at Cop”.

They had attempted to remove wording in relation to youth, human rights, and just transition, she said.

'A less livable' world

Mrs Robinson has also called on the Government to invest so that it will be more affordable for people to “go green”. 

She warned that if the 1.5C climate target was not reached then people under the age of 30 would be in “a less liveable” world with more floods, droughts, and people having to leave their homes.

Some progress had been made at Cop26, she said, but some of the delegates had gone home “in despair” at the prospect of not meeting the 1.5C target.

Climate activists protesting during the official final day of the Cop26 summit in Glasgow. 

Agreements had been made on the phasing out of oil and gas, she said, with the Government agreeing to such a phasing out. There had also been a “big shift” in the financial sector.

It was important that the voices of the most vulnerable had been heard by “those at the top”. The world was now in crisis mode, she added.

What happens locally from now on would make a difference, said Mrs Robinson, who spoke of her pride in her home town of Ballina, Co Mayo, which organised a climate event last week to coincide with Cop26.

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