Sir, – In response to my letter (July 18th) on tackling the climate crisis, both Paul O’Shea (July 19th) and Dave Mathieson (July 22nd) appear to have different views in interpreting the advice of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (UNIPCC).
The UNIPCC advice is crystal clear that every country should certainly strive to reduce emissions, but in doing so, any policy or action should be commensurate with its responsibility for global warming, in Ireland’s case, a minuscule 0.11 per cent of the global total. In conjunction, it importantly states that each country should focus resources on adaptation and resilience to protect against the ravages of present and future destructive weather patterns and extreme sea rise. Thus, the IPCC advice is more nuanced and pragmatic than the “one size fits all” target of the Paris Accord which imposes a 51 per cent reduction in emissions on all countries by 2030, irrespective of size or current or historical responsibility for global warming. It is now clear that many countries, including Ireland, will not meet the 2030 target and will be severely penalised as a result. Yet the Coalition’s Climate Action Plan, having foolishly and naively committed to being exemplars and world leaders in all climate-related matters, boasting the most ambitious climate action plan in the world, is set on continue spending a disproportional €135 billion on unattainable targets with little or no effect on global warming. The Coalition received a stark message in the recent local and European elections that the Irish public will not accept imposed unnecessary and life-changing draconian measures, in a futile attempt to comply with the Paris Accord. In the meantime, we should, of course, individually and collectively, continue to reduce our emissions in a responsible manner. – Yours, etc,
JOHN LEAHY,
Cork.