Ireland must cut CO2 by 15% in EU plan

IRELAND will have to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from buildings and transport by 15% by 2020 under a plan to tackle climate change to be published by the European Commission tomorrow.

The EU’s poorer member states will be allowed to increase their emissions to facilitate their economic development while those with higher GDPs will have to make larger cuts.

Ireland will also have to provide a higher than average share of its energy needs from renewables such as wind power and biofuels on the basis of its GDP, which is second highest in the EU at 40% higher than the average.

The proposals are designed to fulfil the EU’s commitment to cut emissions by 20% overall over 1990 rates; substitute 20% of fossil fuels by renewables and 10% of transport fuel by biofuels.

Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso put the cost of the proposals at about 0.5% of GDP. “But the cost of inaction could approach 20% of GDP. The longer we delay, the higher the costs of adaptation and mitigation.”

The changes will pose challenges for the EU’s member states, for industry and for energy generators, such as the ESB.

It will also mean a fundamental change in Ireland’s approach to greenhouse gas emissions reductions, which is almost totally dependent on buying permits fromdeveloping countries.

Under the proposed rules for instance the Government will no longer be able to hand permits free to industry but will have to auction them.

The auctions will raise funds for national governments that will be required to spend 20% on new technologies to reduce CO2.

The EU plans to introduce auctioning for permits in aluminium and chemical sectors but will allow governments remove smaller industries from the system provided they reduce emissions using other measures.

Renewables have been controversial with claims they will force countries to divert production from growing food.

However the commission proposals are expected to include a set of standards that will insist on specific criteria being met by producers of biofuels before they can be sold into the EU. This will include no biofuels grown on former rainforests. The emphasis will be on second-generation biofuels such as those created from organic waste and refuse.