Madam, - Two new reports have revealed what we all feared but hoped would not materialise (The Irish Times, October 30th). The planet will be seriously degraded in our lifetime by global warming.
Both the UK government's Stern Report and the UN's latest data showing an upward trend in the emission of greenhouse gases call for urgent action. The UN data showed a 2.4 per cent increase in total emissions from 41 industrialised countries between 2000 and 2004. The Stern Report called for urgent action now to avoid a self-inflicted natural calamity and a resulting world recession.
I wryly noted the public reaction of our Environment Minister, Dick Roche. Mr Roche is fooling only himself if he believes that Ireland will play its part in the fight to reduce CO2 emissions. Under his stewardship and that of his predecessors, Noel Dempsey and Martin Cullen, we have effectively reneged on our Kyoto commitments.
Under the Kyoto Protocol, industrialised countries agreed in 1997 to cut emissions of the gases blamed for human-induced climate change to 5 per cent below 1990 levels. Now, almost 10 years later, Ireland's emissions are continuing to increase and the current mix of Government inaction and ill-informed policy choices will ensure we will fail in our obligations in the years ahead.
The UN report adds that Kyoto signatory countries had a "good chance" of meeting their targets if they moved quickly to implement proposed strategies. On both counts our Government has not delivered.
The recent European Environment Agency (EEA) greenhouse gas projections are a big indictment of our performance. The European Commission notes that, without additional measures, Ireland is likely to be almost 16 per cent off the target set for reducing its carbon emissions by 2010. That is fourth from bottom in the performance league - about as bad as our broadband roll-out performance! So what is the Government's strategy? And how quickly are we moving on it? Rather than pursuing a coherent policy to reduce emissions across all sectors (transport, energy, industry and environment), our current leaders are complacently doing the opposite.
We have pitiful incentives to use renewable energy (both domestic and industrial) at producer and consumer level. Research into clean production and sustainable energy is poorly funded. We plan to build more fossil-fuelled electricity generating stations. We are building new motorways and bypasses to encourage ever more cars on to these roads.
We have failed for decades to invest in rail transport,which could take freight off our roads. We have given no planning priority to integrated, efficient public transport systems for commuters, thus keeping them car-dependent. We have no incentives to use public transport (where it is available). We are adding new air terminals at Cork and Dublin to add to air traffic emissions. We have persisted with a policy to introduce waste incineration that will add 1 tonne of CO2 for every tonne of waste burned. With over 500,000 tonnes of CO2 to come from the planned burners every year, this is certainly the wrong technology for the future. So why persist? We persist with mixed waste landfills that release methane and CO2. This could be avoided by a decently funded supports and incentives for real recycling, remanufacturing, waste prevention at source and waste segregation pre-landfill.
We need actions and coherent policies instead of soundbites and hot air from our short sighted Minister. - Yours, etc,
SEAN CRONIN, Chair, Zero Waste Alliance Ireland, Carrigaline, Co Cork.
Madam, - Sir Nicholas Stern's review of the consequences of global warming and the need to act before it is too late is particularly applicable to this country. Our record of non-compliance with the Kyoto protocol is an appalling one of cynical indifference. The Government's policy for years has been that we will buy our way out by paying the fines rather than take what might be perceived to be unpopular measures.
A real surprise has been to learn that there is no tax on aviation fuel comparable to that imposed on other transport fuels. It suddenly becomes more clear why airlines can offer such cheap fares. An initiative at European level is needed urgently so that travellers bear the real costs of air travel.
This will prompt a popular outcry - as will other carbon taxes like those now being proposed - but it is surely inevitable.
There is a need for all-party agreement on essential measures to curb greenhouse emissions now that this is a global concern. This must become an issue in the next election. - Yours, etc,
DAVID WALSH, Rockfield, Maynooth, Co Kildare.
A Chara, - With the recent political concern about stamp duty on houses and about climate change, could we marry the two and increase stamp duty for energy-inefficient homes while reducing it for those that are efficient?
By injecting such a change, we could radically raise awareness of what should be the top political priority: tackling global warming. - Is mise,
Cllr MALCOLM BYRNE, The Chase, Gorey, Co Wexford.