Government has failed to deliver over 60% of its own climate commitments – new report
Government has failed to deliver over 60% of its own climate commitments - new report - The Labour Party
- Labour Climate Scorecard synthesises large body of evidence setting out Irish Government failure on climate progress
- 90 out of 148 climate commitments made in 2020 undelivered
- Ireland performing below the EU average in 13 of 16 critical indicators of our climate and environment
- Failure could cost between €8bn to €26bn in fines
The Government’s climate record has been exposed today by the Labour Party in its analysis of Ireland’s climate progress which could cost the taxpayer up to €26bn.
In its research published today, Labour climate spokesperson Ciaran Ahern TD said this Government’s failure to even attempt to meet self-set targets on emissions, renewable energy, retrofitting and public transport beggars belief and costs the tax payer.
As Government Ministers attend COP31 next week, Deputy Ahern said Minister Darragh O’Brien should show some humility at COP and apologise to our international partners as Ireland looks set to become the EU’s poster child for climate failure.
Deputy Ahern said:
“Our analysis shows that we have a Government that is not up to the job. It is failing to meet its own climate commitments, it is ignoring the recommendations of experts and we have a Minister who is failing to provide any leadership and failing to bring his colleagues with him in reducing our emissions and preserving our biodiversity.
“When Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil entered into a coalition with the Green Party in 2020, the resulting Programme for Government made 148 commitments related to climate and the environment in its “Green New Deal” section.
“Yet six years on, 61% of these actions have not been delivered, with many outright reneged upon.
“This Government also ignored 78% (150 out of 192) priority recommendations on the environment and climate action made by the Climate Change Advisory Council, SEAI, the European Commission and the Citizens’ Assembly on Biodiversity Loss.
“Across every metric this Government is failing to deliver on climate change. We have a Government that knows what needs to be done, but is choosing to fail as climate continues to fall off the political agenda.
“Ireland’s poor performance on climate action is neither normal nor acceptable. We are outliers across our European peers, ranking among the bottom three EU countries from emissions to renewables to recycling to biodiversity, and more besides.
“Just last week, the Government announced a decision to repay €8bn in loans received during the financial crisis ahead of schedule in order to save taxpayers €90mn.
“Yet there is no action to safeguard the public from climate fines ranging anywhere between €8bn to €26bn. It simply doesn’t add up.
“What is needed now is clear ambition for immediate and urgent action, and for the State to take a lead role in the transformation that is needed for a carbon free future.
“We’ve just emerged from Ireland’s hottest summer on record. Earlier in the year Storm Chandra caused flooding across the country and last year’s Storm Eowyn was the worst storm we’ve experienced in decades.
“Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael need to recognise that Ireland’s climate patterns are changing and they have a responsibility to, at the very least, achieve their own targets. Climate change is a reality and it’s accelerating at a rapid pace. We need to see real leadership and action from Minister O’Brien now, for a future we can all afford.”
Key findings
“We are failing to meet our targets for retrofitting homes, with only 18,765 heat pumps installed between 2018 and 2025, despite a target of having 400,000 installed by 2030.
“Meanwhile, people are being asked to shoulder high energy costs while Government is failing to deliver the measures that would make their homes cheaper to heat.
“The cost of living crisis is hitting people hard. It’s unsustainable from a financial and climate perspective that retrofitting targets could be falling so far by the wayside. Families are already making impossible choices with energy poverty on the rise.
“We are failing to meet our targets for expanding transport options, with commercial bus journeys in fact declining between 2018 and 2024.
“But Government is upping the fares for people on their bus, train and public transport journeys when we actually need to do all that we can to get commuters out of cars.
“Commuters were abandoned by Government in October’s Budget, while Minister O’Brien and his cabinet colleagues found almost €1.2bn to cut excise duty on petrol and diesel.
“Rather than weaning ourselves off of dirty fossil fuels, we have a Government that is effectively subsidising the industry at a level not seen anywhere else.
“The most frustrating aspect is the short-termism we’re seeing from Government. They don’t appear to recognise the urgency with which we need to decarbonise our transport sector. It’s the second-highest emitting sector of our economy.
“We’re never going to achieve that aim if Government is on the one hand providing fossil fuel subsidies and on the other making it harder for people to use sustainable transport.
“Our report goes on to show further failure to meet Ireland’s targets in expanding renewable energy, for example being projected to generate only 824MW in offshore wind energy by 2030, despite a target of 5GW. We know that all new renewable energy is being cannibalised by the insatiable energy demands of data centres rather than decarbonising our homes and businesses.
“We are failing to meet our targets for reduced emissions, with every sector with its own emissions ceiling set to exceed it: agriculture, industry, electricity, transport, residential built environment, commercial built environment, and others (F-gases, waste, and petroleum).
“We are failing to meet our targets for planting trees, reducing food waste, and protecting our rivers and water sources. The list goes on.”
ENDS
The report in full can be accessed on the Labour Party website at: https://labour.ie/labours-climate-scorecard/