IRELAND is on course to renege on its greenhouse gas obligations under the Kyoto Protocol, according to emissions figures released yesterday.
While our greenhouse gas emissions fell by 0.8% in 2006, we are still producing almost seven million tonnes more than our Kyoto Treaty limit.
Data released yesterday by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) revealed that greenhouse gas emissions were 570,000 tonnes lower in 2006 than 2005, with decreases in the amount of gas released by agriculture and energy generation.
However, our total emissions of 69.77 million tonnes are now 25.5% above 1990 levels. Under the Kyoto Protocol, Ireland is only allowed a 13% increase.
EPA director-general Dr Mary Kelly said yesterday: “While the figures are encouraging, and the reduction of 0.8% is most welcome, the remaining distance to our Kyoto target is substantial and shows that we continue to face a major challenge. Reducing emissions in a growing economy will require a major effort on all our parts.”
Transport emissions were up by 5.2% in 2006, an increase of almost 680,000 tonnes. This trend was described as “particularly worrying” by Dr Kelly.
Transport emissions are now 165% higher than in 1990 and make up almost 20% of our greenhouse gas output. Road transport accounts for 97% of this figure, reflecting a trend towards purchasing larger vehicles, an increased reliance on private cars and more road freight transport.
Emissions from power generation were down by 4.6% in 2006, but this was partly because of a plant shut-down at Moneypoint in Co Clare while improvements were under way.
Commenting on whether Ireland can reach its Kyoto target by 2012, Dr Kelly said that the target will be met by “a combination of domestic actions with some purchase of carbon credits” as allowed under the Kyoto protocol.
“Today’s figures show that the Government’s target of 3% annual reductions in emissions over the next five years will be extremely challenging and further emphasises that actions to reduce domestic emissions must be intensified and strengthened,” she said.
“Greenhouse gases emitted now will remain in the atmosphere for many decades and affect the climate for centuries to come. Policy makers must use the detailed breakdown of figures in each sector, provided today, to focus on all areas where reductions are possible and need to be achieved.”
In the post-Kyoto period to 2020, reductions of 20%-30% on 1990 emissions are being proposed to avoid “irreversible and damaging climate change”.
Europe is attempting to limit the inevitable global temperature increase to 2C above pre-industrial times.
Irish Examiner
www.buckplanning.ie
Showing posts with label planning and environment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label planning and environment. Show all posts
Wednesday, 16 January 2008
Saturday, 22 December 2007
Several shades of Green
Environment: Only six months in Government, and already the Green Party has discovered that power brings its problems, writes Frank McDonald , Environment Editor.
Getting into Government was a baptism of fire for Green Party leader John Gormley. On the day he took office last June, he was informed that his predecessor, Dick Roche, had signed an order for the "preservation by record" of a newly found national monument at Lismullen on the route of the M3 motorway.
Re-routing the M3 away from the Hill of Tara and the archaeological landscape that surrounds it was one of the Greens' demands in the negotiations to form a Government, but their Fianna Fáil partners wouldn't budge; the motorway was to go ahead as planned. Legally, there was nothing the new Minister could do to set aside Roche's directions that the prehistoric Lismullen henge should be archaeologically excavated, properly recorded and then removed from the path of the M3.
Gormley pledged to protect Tara and its environs by designating it a "landscape conservation area", even though this was an essentially meaningless gesture when the Gabhra Valley between the ancient seat of Ireland's high kings and the Hill of Skryne to the east was about to be scarred by a motorway snaking right through it.
But the new Minister, whose portfolio includes heritage protection, repeatedly said he had no authority to order a re-routing of the M3. Campaigners for the preservation of Tara's setting were outraged by what they saw as a betrayal of their cause by a party all too anxious to get its hands on the levers of power.
Five months later, Gormley suffered a major political setback when An Bord Pleanála decided unanimously to approve plans by Dublin City Council for a huge municipal waste incinerator on the Poolbeg peninsula - a highly contentious project that he had vigorously opposed as one of the local TDs. Again, there was nothing he could do to alter the outcome. Under the Planning Act 2000, the Minister for the Environment is debarred from interfering in the deliberations of the planning appeals board or, indeed, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which issued a draft licence for the proposed "waste-to-energy" plant a week later.
All Gormley could do - and he did so regularly over several months - was to indicate quite publicly that national waste-management policy favouring incineration was in the process of being changed. However, it hadn't been changed by statute, so An Bord Pleanála and the EPA could only base their decisions on existing policy.
The fact that the appeals board declined to cap the tonnage of waste to be incinerated at the Poolbeg plant - as its own senior planning inspector, Padraig Thornton, had recommended - made its decision an even more bitter pill to swallow; it certainly didn't go down well in Ringsend, Irishtown and Sandymount.
The Minister may seek to circumvent approval for the incinerator by issuing a policy directive under the Waste Management Act 1996 that would have the effect of undermining the economic viability of the project. But it is difficult to see how he could set aside the council's contract with a Danish-American consortium lined up to run it.
However, there were many things Gormley could do to advance the "green agenda". For example, he moved swiftly in publishing an amendment to the building regulations that would increase the energy-efficiency of new homes by 40 per cent. Another measure, which he announced in the State's first "carbon budget" earlier this month, will ban wasteful incandescent light bulbs from the Irish market from January 1st, 2009. This is expected to deliver carbon emissions savings of up to 700,000 tonnes per year and cut householders' electricity bills by €185 million annually.
Gormley's party colleague, Minister for Energy Eamon Ryan, has published a draft Energy Efficiency Action Plan, which provides additional funding for the highly successful Greener Homes Scheme as well as a limited "initial pilot programme" to encourage owners of older houses to upgrade their energy performance.
CHANGES IN MOTOR taxation, with all vehicles to be rated exclusively on the basis of their CO2 emissions (with larger ones such as SUVs paying proportionately more), are designed to enable motorists to make more informed choices in buying new vehicles - so that, ultimately, the "gas guzzlers" will be shunned as much as energy-wasting fridges.
However, as Gormley noted in his carbon budget speech, emissions from Ireland's transport sector have risen by 180 per cent since 1990 - mainly as a result of the spectacular increase in car ownership and use. Yet the lion's share (€2.7 billion) of public investment in transport during 2008 is earmarked for more roads and motorways.
The Minister billed the first "pilot" carbon budget as bringing climate change to "the heart of Government decision-making" - putting it on a par with managing the economy.
"We have to think carbon," he told the Dáil on December 6th. "If we are to successfully tackle climate change, if we have to de-carbonise society, then we have to put a price on carbon, and I hope that all deputies in this House will begin to understand the necessity of a carbon levy." Obviously, many of his Fianna Fáil colleagues in Government didn't share this view, because there was no provision in the Minister's carbon budget to impose such a levy. Instead, the issue was referred for further study to the proposed Commission on Taxation, which could take years to report back. In short, the carbon levy was flunked.
Comhar, the Sustainable Development Council, which sees the levy as key to ensuring that we meet our Kyoto Protocol targets, was disappointed. "Every year that passes without a levy is a year lost in making the progress that has to be made," said chairman Prof Frank Convery. "It is imperative that we introduce this levy in the next 12 months."The decision to kick for touch, even on the introduction of a modest €5 per tonne, would suggest that Minister for Finance Brian Cowen has yet to "buy in" to the firm pledge in the Programme for Government that the State would reduce its CO2 emissions by an average of 3 per cent, year on year, between now and 2012, when the current Kyoto "commitment period" is due to expire.
Budget Day provides the clearest indication of a Government's priorities, and this year's was no exception. However it was dressed up by Gormley in his carbon budget speech, it is evident that the Green Party has a tough road to travel in effecting real change.
Ireland's ranking in 44th place (out of 56 countries) in the latest Climate Change Performance Index will have come as a disappointment to the Greens. But then, they're barely more than six months in office and it will take a lot more time for them to make an impact.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Getting into Government was a baptism of fire for Green Party leader John Gormley. On the day he took office last June, he was informed that his predecessor, Dick Roche, had signed an order for the "preservation by record" of a newly found national monument at Lismullen on the route of the M3 motorway.
Re-routing the M3 away from the Hill of Tara and the archaeological landscape that surrounds it was one of the Greens' demands in the negotiations to form a Government, but their Fianna Fáil partners wouldn't budge; the motorway was to go ahead as planned. Legally, there was nothing the new Minister could do to set aside Roche's directions that the prehistoric Lismullen henge should be archaeologically excavated, properly recorded and then removed from the path of the M3.
Gormley pledged to protect Tara and its environs by designating it a "landscape conservation area", even though this was an essentially meaningless gesture when the Gabhra Valley between the ancient seat of Ireland's high kings and the Hill of Skryne to the east was about to be scarred by a motorway snaking right through it.
But the new Minister, whose portfolio includes heritage protection, repeatedly said he had no authority to order a re-routing of the M3. Campaigners for the preservation of Tara's setting were outraged by what they saw as a betrayal of their cause by a party all too anxious to get its hands on the levers of power.
Five months later, Gormley suffered a major political setback when An Bord Pleanála decided unanimously to approve plans by Dublin City Council for a huge municipal waste incinerator on the Poolbeg peninsula - a highly contentious project that he had vigorously opposed as one of the local TDs. Again, there was nothing he could do to alter the outcome. Under the Planning Act 2000, the Minister for the Environment is debarred from interfering in the deliberations of the planning appeals board or, indeed, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which issued a draft licence for the proposed "waste-to-energy" plant a week later.
All Gormley could do - and he did so regularly over several months - was to indicate quite publicly that national waste-management policy favouring incineration was in the process of being changed. However, it hadn't been changed by statute, so An Bord Pleanála and the EPA could only base their decisions on existing policy.
The fact that the appeals board declined to cap the tonnage of waste to be incinerated at the Poolbeg plant - as its own senior planning inspector, Padraig Thornton, had recommended - made its decision an even more bitter pill to swallow; it certainly didn't go down well in Ringsend, Irishtown and Sandymount.
The Minister may seek to circumvent approval for the incinerator by issuing a policy directive under the Waste Management Act 1996 that would have the effect of undermining the economic viability of the project. But it is difficult to see how he could set aside the council's contract with a Danish-American consortium lined up to run it.
However, there were many things Gormley could do to advance the "green agenda". For example, he moved swiftly in publishing an amendment to the building regulations that would increase the energy-efficiency of new homes by 40 per cent. Another measure, which he announced in the State's first "carbon budget" earlier this month, will ban wasteful incandescent light bulbs from the Irish market from January 1st, 2009. This is expected to deliver carbon emissions savings of up to 700,000 tonnes per year and cut householders' electricity bills by €185 million annually.
Gormley's party colleague, Minister for Energy Eamon Ryan, has published a draft Energy Efficiency Action Plan, which provides additional funding for the highly successful Greener Homes Scheme as well as a limited "initial pilot programme" to encourage owners of older houses to upgrade their energy performance.
CHANGES IN MOTOR taxation, with all vehicles to be rated exclusively on the basis of their CO2 emissions (with larger ones such as SUVs paying proportionately more), are designed to enable motorists to make more informed choices in buying new vehicles - so that, ultimately, the "gas guzzlers" will be shunned as much as energy-wasting fridges.
However, as Gormley noted in his carbon budget speech, emissions from Ireland's transport sector have risen by 180 per cent since 1990 - mainly as a result of the spectacular increase in car ownership and use. Yet the lion's share (€2.7 billion) of public investment in transport during 2008 is earmarked for more roads and motorways.
The Minister billed the first "pilot" carbon budget as bringing climate change to "the heart of Government decision-making" - putting it on a par with managing the economy.
"We have to think carbon," he told the Dáil on December 6th. "If we are to successfully tackle climate change, if we have to de-carbonise society, then we have to put a price on carbon, and I hope that all deputies in this House will begin to understand the necessity of a carbon levy." Obviously, many of his Fianna Fáil colleagues in Government didn't share this view, because there was no provision in the Minister's carbon budget to impose such a levy. Instead, the issue was referred for further study to the proposed Commission on Taxation, which could take years to report back. In short, the carbon levy was flunked.
Comhar, the Sustainable Development Council, which sees the levy as key to ensuring that we meet our Kyoto Protocol targets, was disappointed. "Every year that passes without a levy is a year lost in making the progress that has to be made," said chairman Prof Frank Convery. "It is imperative that we introduce this levy in the next 12 months."The decision to kick for touch, even on the introduction of a modest €5 per tonne, would suggest that Minister for Finance Brian Cowen has yet to "buy in" to the firm pledge in the Programme for Government that the State would reduce its CO2 emissions by an average of 3 per cent, year on year, between now and 2012, when the current Kyoto "commitment period" is due to expire.
Budget Day provides the clearest indication of a Government's priorities, and this year's was no exception. However it was dressed up by Gormley in his carbon budget speech, it is evident that the Green Party has a tough road to travel in effecting real change.
Ireland's ranking in 44th place (out of 56 countries) in the latest Climate Change Performance Index will have come as a disappointment to the Greens. But then, they're barely more than six months in office and it will take a lot more time for them to make an impact.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Thursday, 8 November 2007
DeBurca on McManus - 'Johnny-come-lately Environmentalism'
There were angry clashes last week between Wicklow representatives Labour Deputy, Liz McManus and Green Party Senator, Deirdre de Burca, with de Burca accusing McManus of taking 'silly, inaccurate pot-shots' at Green Ministers and McManus labelling de Burca's statement a 'Green Party rant'.
The disagreement revolved around transport issues, in particular the environmental impact of ministerial cars and plans for an Outer Orbital Road Route which will link Drogheda, Navan and Naas but which will not extend to Wicklow. The sparring began when Deputy McManus questioned, in the Dail, the environmental credentials of ministerial cars and noted her surprise at the high mileage of those of Green Ministers, John Gormley and Eamon Ryan.
Senator de Burca responded to this with a thinly veiled dose of sarcasm, stating, "I welcome my Labour colleague's apparent conversion to Green politics, but it is clear that the Deputy still has a lot to learn. Her comments about the mileage of the hybrid cars for the official business of the Green Party's ministers are inaccurate and misleading. If the Deputy's concern about reducing emissions was in any way sincere, I would encourage her to engage with the Green Party in establishing cross-party-consensus on how Ireland should respond to the climate change challenge . . . Facile attacks based on misleading statistics are a sad reflection on the Labour Party's current political strategies."
Senator de Burca went on to dub Deputy McManus's attitude as 'Johnny-come-lately environmentalism' and claimed it was at odds with the Labour TD's campaign to see the Outer Orbital Road Route, (which will run through Meath and Kildare but stop at Naas) extend into Wicklow. The Minister for Transport, Noel Dempsey recently confirmed in the Dail that plans for the Orbital Route will not include an extension through the Wicklow Mountains to Arklow or Gorey.
Senator de Burca stated, "The Green Party has very serious reservations about the prioritisation and extension of a new motorway that is not part of the Agenda 21' transport investment programme, ahead of the delivery of public transport improvements. The first step is the provision of adequate public transport systems.
Then we have to encourage people to use their private vehicles less and to travel by public transport, or bicycle or foot more."
Senator de Burca also extended an invitation to Deputy McManus to seek advice from the Green Party on environmental issues. "As the Green Party has led the political establishment in this area for the last 25 years, Deputy McManus is very welcome to contact us for advice about cycling, public transport and using more fuel efficient vehicles to minimise emissions."
Deputy McManus hit back at Senator de Burca, "The Green Party rant does not change the facts." In reaction to Senator de Burca's statement on the issue of the Outer Orbital Road Route, Deputy McManus noted, "If the Greens have a problem with the Outer Orbital Route they had their chance to stop it prior to entering government. They chose not to. Exclusion from the route could be devastating for Co. Wicklow. We simply cannot afford to be out of the loop. Only if we have public representatives willing to stand up for the future of Wicklow can we expect to get our fair share of infrastructure, whether road, rail or telecommunications."
Deputy McManus also reacted strongly to Senator de Burca's attack on her commitment to environmental issues, stating "I've been active in environmental issues in this county long before Senator de Burca ever appeared in Co. Wicklow, so I understand the need for good transport policy and the practice required of Ministers." She continued, "Many in Wicklow will be surprised at Senator de Burca's concern for public transport. Her party, in their rush into government, were prepared to sacrifice the Luas to Bray project, which was completely dropped from the Programme for Government. Had it not been for local pressure, lead by the business community, it would have been abandoned."
"Her lack of understanding of how important it is to ensure that West Wicklow is part of the Outer Orbital Route is disappointing, but not surprising. I am sure residents and the business communities in this area will let her know how important it is to them in due course."
"I make no apologies for questioning the Green Party. In Government the Greens invite criticism. How can they justify the obscene increases in Ministerial salaries, for example? We didn't hear much from Senator de Burca last week when the learner driver debacle was taking place. These and other questions are in the public interest. That's why I ask them - and the Greens are just going to have to get used to it."
Aoife O 'Grady
Wicklow Times
www.buckplanning.ie
The disagreement revolved around transport issues, in particular the environmental impact of ministerial cars and plans for an Outer Orbital Road Route which will link Drogheda, Navan and Naas but which will not extend to Wicklow. The sparring began when Deputy McManus questioned, in the Dail, the environmental credentials of ministerial cars and noted her surprise at the high mileage of those of Green Ministers, John Gormley and Eamon Ryan.
Senator de Burca responded to this with a thinly veiled dose of sarcasm, stating, "I welcome my Labour colleague's apparent conversion to Green politics, but it is clear that the Deputy still has a lot to learn. Her comments about the mileage of the hybrid cars for the official business of the Green Party's ministers are inaccurate and misleading. If the Deputy's concern about reducing emissions was in any way sincere, I would encourage her to engage with the Green Party in establishing cross-party-consensus on how Ireland should respond to the climate change challenge . . . Facile attacks based on misleading statistics are a sad reflection on the Labour Party's current political strategies."
Senator de Burca went on to dub Deputy McManus's attitude as 'Johnny-come-lately environmentalism' and claimed it was at odds with the Labour TD's campaign to see the Outer Orbital Road Route, (which will run through Meath and Kildare but stop at Naas) extend into Wicklow. The Minister for Transport, Noel Dempsey recently confirmed in the Dail that plans for the Orbital Route will not include an extension through the Wicklow Mountains to Arklow or Gorey.
Senator de Burca stated, "The Green Party has very serious reservations about the prioritisation and extension of a new motorway that is not part of the Agenda 21' transport investment programme, ahead of the delivery of public transport improvements. The first step is the provision of adequate public transport systems.
Then we have to encourage people to use their private vehicles less and to travel by public transport, or bicycle or foot more."
Senator de Burca also extended an invitation to Deputy McManus to seek advice from the Green Party on environmental issues. "As the Green Party has led the political establishment in this area for the last 25 years, Deputy McManus is very welcome to contact us for advice about cycling, public transport and using more fuel efficient vehicles to minimise emissions."
Deputy McManus hit back at Senator de Burca, "The Green Party rant does not change the facts." In reaction to Senator de Burca's statement on the issue of the Outer Orbital Road Route, Deputy McManus noted, "If the Greens have a problem with the Outer Orbital Route they had their chance to stop it prior to entering government. They chose not to. Exclusion from the route could be devastating for Co. Wicklow. We simply cannot afford to be out of the loop. Only if we have public representatives willing to stand up for the future of Wicklow can we expect to get our fair share of infrastructure, whether road, rail or telecommunications."
Deputy McManus also reacted strongly to Senator de Burca's attack on her commitment to environmental issues, stating "I've been active in environmental issues in this county long before Senator de Burca ever appeared in Co. Wicklow, so I understand the need for good transport policy and the practice required of Ministers." She continued, "Many in Wicklow will be surprised at Senator de Burca's concern for public transport. Her party, in their rush into government, were prepared to sacrifice the Luas to Bray project, which was completely dropped from the Programme for Government. Had it not been for local pressure, lead by the business community, it would have been abandoned."
"Her lack of understanding of how important it is to ensure that West Wicklow is part of the Outer Orbital Route is disappointing, but not surprising. I am sure residents and the business communities in this area will let her know how important it is to them in due course."
"I make no apologies for questioning the Green Party. In Government the Greens invite criticism. How can they justify the obscene increases in Ministerial salaries, for example? We didn't hear much from Senator de Burca last week when the learner driver debacle was taking place. These and other questions are in the public interest. That's why I ask them - and the Greens are just going to have to get used to it."
Aoife O 'Grady
Wicklow Times
www.buckplanning.ie
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