EDITORIAL: Shameful failure on emissions targets

 WAS the target Ireland agreed to achieve of cutting our greenhouse gas emissions by 20% from 2005 levels by the year 2020 too ambitious? Not so, according to An Taisce.

But, the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) predicts that we will fall well short of the target set by the European Union and we will have no one to blame but ourselves for not acting in a timely manner to tackle the issue.

The latest EPA estimate is that the emissions reduction between 2005 and 2020 could be as low as 6% – very far short of what we signed up to. Much has been said and written about reducing emissions over a long period of time, but the words have not been matched by actions to achieve the desired outcome.

To make matters worse, EPA projections are that, instead of being reduced, our emissions will be 3.58% higher in 2030 than in 2016, driven by increases in the transport and agriculture sectors, so the minister with responsibility for dealing with climate change, Denis Naughten, needs to drive some decisive government action to address the problems we face.

John Gibbons of An Taisce’s Climate Change Committee, commenting on last week’s EPA report, made a very valid point: ‘We owe it to this generation and the next to get real about climate change – while we still can.’