Irish Examiner view: Government must deliver on climate change promises

At €125bn, the plan's cost is huge but the benefits will be far-reaching

Poolbeg incinerator pictured in Dublin as COP 26 UN Climate Change Conference takes place in Glasgow. Picture: Stephen Collins/Collins Photos

BY any measure, the projected cost of the Government’s climate action plan is eye-watering and unnerving. At €125 billion, the amount is equivalent to the cost of two bank bailouts or three pandemics. But that may be the wrong way to look at it. Instead of considering it in negative terms as a cost or liability, we should look at it in a positive light as an investment that will, if put into practice, have far-reaching benefits.

The plan seeks to chart a course for a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of 51% by the end of the decade. That is hugely ambitious, but achievable, and there are a number of compelling reasons for making it happen.