April 25, 2022 View all news Friends of the Earth has called on Mary Lou McDonald TD and other high profile speakers to reconsider their involvement in an energy policy conference tomorrow (Tuesday 26th) because it’s main sponsors are fossil fuel companies. The “National Energy Summit” [1] taking place in Croke Park will feature speeches from several well-known climate and energy stakeholders from Government and academia. While such events are a standard and worthwhile feature of policy discussions in Ireland, Friends of the Earth says this event is tainted by the fact that its main “gold” sponsors are Mag Mell (formerly Predator), a liquefied natural gas developer, and Gas Networks Ireland [2].Commenting, Jerry Mac Evilly, Head of Policy in Friends of the Earth stated:“For decades, the fossil fuel industry has used its immense resources and influence to delay and weaken effective climate policies, just like the tobacco industry did to public health policies before it. And like the tobacco industry, the fossil fuel industry uses the sponsorship of events to greenwash its destructive business model and gain access to decision makers.“We want to protect policy-making from the attempts of the fossil fuel industry to influence it in their own interests. Therefore we are calling on prospective participants to reconsider their involvement in this event, just as your public health colleagues would not support involvement in a tobacco-sponsored event. At the very least, speakers at the event should make clear that such sponsorship is unacceptable.”While the focus of the event is on policies related to climate action and decarbonisation, it is unacceptable to see fossil fuels such as gas heralded as the answer to Ireland’s needs. The agenda includes a session entitled “The gas network: the reliable backbone of Ireland’s energy system and key to our cleaner energy future” and the question: “Is the continued use of natural gas during a period of transition away from fossil fuels a problem for climate action?”[3]Mr Mac Evilly continued:“This sponsorship is particularly unacceptable and harmful as it is abundantly clear that expansions in fossil gas pipelines and LNG infrastructure would deepen Ireland’s import dependency and only serve to increase our exposure to geopolitical disruptions and increasing gas prices, while exacerbating the climate crisis.“The position of Government, as noted in the policy statement of May 2021 introducing a moratorium on the importation of fracked gas and LNG infrastructure [4], is that LNG development is not appropriate and will not be permitted pending the outcome of an energy security review. Minister Ryan has been clear that he does not think LNG will be necessary for Ireland’s energy security[5] and the Tánaiste has underlined that the right investment in north Kerry is in renewables and green hydrogen, not LNG [6]. In this context it is essential Government stakeholders clearly reject such industry sponsorship.Notes[1] https://energysummit.ie/[2] https://energysummit.ie/sponsors/[3] See https://energysummit.ie/agenda/ Note also that the UN Secretary General, Antonio Gutteres has stated that “investing in new fossil fuels infrastructure is moral and economic madness” and noted that, as a result of the rush to replace Russian fossil fuels, “short-term measures might create long-term fossil fuel dependence and close the window to 1.5 degrees”. https://www.un.org/press/en/2022/sgsm21228.doc.htm[4] https://www.gov.ie/en/press-release/dbe48-policy-statement-on-the-importation-of-fracked-gas-published/[5] See www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/joint_committee_on_environment_and_climate_action/2021-11-16/speech/13/[6] https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/2022-02-24/speech/203/ Categorised in: Energy Tagged with: Gas No New Gas