Irish consumers to bear pollution cost
It will cost the public at least €2 million a week in EU permits according to the environmental group.
Small is beautiful, and Ireland is small. However, we are big polluters.
In the EU, we rank fourth from the bottom in our commitment to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
Under the Kyoto Protocols, we are committed to reducing the rise in carbon emissions to 13% by 2010. However, the EU Commission says that without additional measures, our carbon usage will not only not fall by 13% but will increase by 30%.
As Irish law stands, the public will pay the permits bill for this overshoot; Irish industry will pollute at whatever rate it wants but will not be required to pay. Also, FOE fears that industry will pass the costs on to consumers. Irish householders, already squeezed by interest rates on their new, energy efficient homes, will doubly suffer while being half to blame.
The Environmental Protection Agency estimates the rise in our greenhouse gas emissions from 2008 to 2012 will be twice that allowed under Kyoto.
At a steady rate of €15 a tonne, the Irish bill will be €105 million a year — €2 million a week. However, permit prices have risen to €30 a tonne in the past. At that rate, Irish consumers and taxpayers would pay over €1 billion in permits over the five years.
In July 2006, FOE Director Oisin Coghlan said: “The government has replaced the polluter-pays principle with the public-pays principle.
‘‘Industry will get their pollution permits for free but raise consumer prices to reflect their value. Meanwhile, the government will use taxpayers’ money to buy permits for the rest of our Kyoto overshoot. It’s a double whammy for the average household.”
Mr Coghlan maintains that there is still time to make industry pay its fair share for permits, and to put carbon charging in place so consumers pay only when they pollute rather paying no matter how much they reduce their own pollution.
In the UK, a 700-page report on climate change by senior government economist Sir Nicholas Stern says that global warming could cost world economies trillions of pounds and trigger a global recession. The report says that, starting now, the world needs to spend 1% of global gross domestic product — calculated at €260 billion — to deal with climate change. If this money is not spent now, the bill will run into trillions.
British Environment Secretary David Miliband proposes a range of green taxes, including the extensive use of wind power. Meanwhile, he notes: “It is vital that the major emitters like the United States and the growing economies like China and India are also part of the solution.”
As Ireland’s economy has grown (in GDP terms) by 93% since 1990, limiting carbon emissions to a 13% increase is a tough target but it must be done.
In June this year, 89 TDs signed The Climate Pledge drawn up by Friends of the Earth to raise public and political awareness of the urgency of tackling climate crisis. Fianna Fáil TDs were not foremost in signing.
In taxing industrial polluters, rather than making you and I pay, one may worry that special interest groups will again lead Fianna Fáil by the nose, as does the Irish Farmers Association on the issue of blocking walkers.
However, similar ‘grassroots’ pressure was resisted by the Minister of the Marine, Noel Dempsey, who gained the party’s support in securing a complete ban on drift netting for salmon, just in time. The Fine Gael proposal for a gradual reduction would have won votes but left no salmon and no salmon fishermen within six years.
I commiserate sincerely with the fishermen and wild salmon product producers, amongst whom I have friends. They must, of course, receive generous compensation: they have lost not only a livelihood but a way of life. However, it means the salmon will regenerate and will be there for their grandchildren, who should be granted hereditary licences to take out the nets when the sea is full of salmon again.
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