Climate Plan: A roadmap for resilience and hope

A relentless focus on delivery and a ratcheting up of the sectoral targets and actions are now essential

 

In an initial reaction to Climate Action Plan, Friends of the Earth Director, Oisín Coghlan, commented:

"Today’s plan is a roadmap for resilience and hope in the face of the greatest challenge humanity has ever faced. It paints a positive picture of what Ireland will look like in 2030 if we cut our pollution in half. “We still need to make the journey however. And to bring everyone with us.

There are three obvious challenges.

“We need a relentless focus on delivery. The public have grown weary of government action plans on all sorts of issues. What will build trust is action and results. As Greta puts it ‘When we start to act hope is everywhere’.

“Only the upper end of the sectoral reduction ranges get us to our 2030 target. So in reality we have to think of them as a ratchet not a range. It’s pretty clear what the final sectoral emissions ceilings will need to be when they are formally adopted next year.

“And there are not enough actions identified in this plan to hit the target ranges. So again, the next plan will need to step-up the actions in each sector to met the most demanding end of the pollution reduction ranges.

"We must remember too that our 2030 and 2050 targets still fall short of Ireland’s global fair share of climate action. In order to respect the principle of climate justice, our overall ambition will need to be ratcheted up in time too. We will need to reach net zero far sooner than 2050."

“Friends of the Earth and our allies in the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition will pore over the 200 pages of analysis and actions in today’s plan, and the as yet unpublished annexes, and engage constructively in the promised ‘ongoing stakeholder dialogue’ to ensure that the Government delivers on this down-payment and continues to develop the policies and measures we need.

"This is only the beginning of our collective journey to a cleaner, safer, healthier, zero-pollution future. There is a huge amount of work to do and there is still much we don’t know. But as we set out we are now better equipped than at any time before, with the climate law, the carbon budget and today’s action plan.”

ENDS