Sir, – I read with considerable interest the recent opinion piece by UCD adjunct professor of meteorology Ray Bates ("Warning of 'over-alarmist' stance on climate risk", Opinion & Analysis, May 13th).
I very much appreciate any efforts by The Irish Times to afford a platform for public debate on Irish policy response to the unprecedented challenge of human-made climate change. It is a debate which is long overdue.
Of course, I must respectfully demur from Prof Bates’s idiosyncratic – not to say bizarre – downplaying of the stark warnings contained in recent reports from the highly respected UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Contrary to Prof Bates, I would say the thing that is most obviously absent from current Irish policy debates is the appropriate level of absolutely rational "alarm".
Nonetheless, on one specific point, Prof Bates does raise a very legitimate policy concern, having particular resonance for Ireland: that is, if we constrain Irish agricultural production – in order to meet our overall emissions reduction commitments – is there not a real danger that other, less emission-efficient, producers will simply take over this production, leading in fact to increased total emissions, on a global basis?
This problem of so-called emissions reduction “leakage” (which is not at all unique to the agricultural sector) is a genuine one. As is well known, such problems can only be fully addressed through effective international agreements, and I take it therefore that Prof Bates is (tacitly?) advocating for strong Irish diplomatic effort in pursuing such agreements (for example, by offering the “bold pledges” requested of heads of government by UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon in advance of the special UN climate summit next September in New York). I would very much welcome that.
But we should be clear on the consequences – prioritising, as we must, those agricultural practices having maximum nutritional output relative to greenhouse gas emissions will necessarily favour a major shift in global dietary mix away from beef and dairy toward increased cereal and vegetable consumption. This will obviously have profound implications for the strategic future development of Irish agriculture.
Prof Bates is to be commended for raising this crucial issue. – Yours, etc,
Prof BARRY McMULLIN,
Executive Dean,
Faculty of Engineering
and Computing,
Dublin City University.