Our policies as bad as Trump’s - Cutting carbon emissions

BEHIND every challenge around how we might change our ways to avert climate change lurks the hint of a national cop-out: “We’re too small to make any difference, why should we bother?” That shabby attitude has, unfortunately, informed Government’s plan for cutting carbon emissions.

Professor John FitzGerald of the Climate Change Advisory Council has warned that current proposals fall short of what is required if we are to meet obligations to cut carbon emissions by 80% by 2050. He warned that the final version of the National Mitigation Plan, scheduled for June, must include “substantial changes”. As ever, there are time constraints. There is a statutory obligation to finalise the plan by mid-June so the possibility of revision is already remote.

That our first response to climate change in a decade seems so flawed it is appalling and suggests that our Government shares President Trump’s ignorant contempt for climate science. That worry is deepened by the fact that it has been “some time” since Minister for Communications, Climate and the Environment Denis Naughten met the Climate Change Advisory Council set up two years ago over our failure to confront carbon reduction or meet 2020 targets.