Most Irish people, I rather suspect, are entirely unaware of the scale of the changes that the state will have to demand of them in order to meet the – and this is only one word for it – ambitious climate targets that the present Government has enshrined in law.
There are two key milestones in those targets: First, Ireland must reduce net carbon emissions by more than half – 51% – by 2030. Second, Ireland must be entirely carbon neutral by 2050. At the moment, Ireland is on course to miss the 2030 target by a country mile, despite all of the Green Policy implemented by the current Government.
Yesterday, the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council – which has some jurisdiction in this area because of the eye-watering fines the taxpayer will have to pay to the European Union should these targets not be met – set out the scale of the problem, and perhaps more troublingly, the scale of the solutions. The Irish Independent had the details:
Ireland needs to “urgently” cut the sale of petrol-guzzlers, hybrid cars and city centre parking spaces to meet current climate targets, academics and regulators have warned.
More renewables alone won’t cut it, a conference heard on Thursday, with drivers, farmers, data centres, households and businesses called on to slash their energy use to get Ireland “back on track” to meet its 2030 targets….
…..Professor Daly said the current carbon tax is “far too low to bring about the level and speed of change required”.
So there you have it: We’re talking about substantial tax increases, and a full-on war on motorists, farmers, data centres, households, and businesses that is still required just to meet the 2030 target, let alone the 2050 target.
It is worth at this point mentioning, perhaps, that should Ireland manage to meet these targets, it will fall from producing 0.1% of global net carbon dioxide emissions to around about 0.04% – while our own emissions will fall by half, our percentage of the total will fall by slightly more than that, because global emissions will decrease by far less than that. In fact the estimate at the last COP summit was that global emissions would fall by only 2% by 2030.
In other words, Ireland is legally obliged, thanks to the present Government, to cut global emissions at 26 times the rate of the world as a whole.
It should be obvious that this cannot be achieved without whomever is in Government, so long as they are committed to these targets, suffering almost immeasurable political pain. Indeed, one reason that the country is presently off target is that the current Government, exercising a little bit of political realism, “back-loaded” the climate plan to ensure that the most politically painful stuff would not have to be implemented until the term of the next Government. This was done at a time when Sinn Fein looked, it’s fair to say, more certain to be in Government in 2030 than they currently do.
Of course, all of this needs to be placed in the political context of the Government’s existing difficulties with the measures it is trying to take just to keep us halfway towards the target: As things stand, they are in open war with one of the state’s most successful companies, Ryanair. They are also facing increasingly angry revolt from farmers. Motorists have yet to make their displeasure felt over measures like the new proposed speed limits, but there is discontent burbling beneath the surface. And then of course there’s the likely reaction to large increases in the carbon tax, which will prove universally deeply unpopular.
All of which leaves us with a rather obvious question: Can these targets be met by any Government that relies on democratic legitimacy for its power? Or in plainer language – can they be met in a democracy?
It’s worth mentioning that if there’s one area of public policy where the Government benefits from a universally friendly and sympathetic media, it’s in the area of climate policy. Despite this, they’re still facing revolt on multiple fronts. That should not give them confidence that the rest of the plan can be implemented.
The Irish public tend to get angry at one thing at a time: We had an economic crash, followed by an unemployment crisis, followed by housing, followed by covid, and now immigration. It’s very likely that over the coming few years, the unpopularity of the net zero agenda will be the next big issue to divide the Irish public from those who rule us.
The EU has directed Ireland to cut energy consumption by 33%. That is despite the Irish population growing each year. We are going to be forced into poverty in order to appease the Climate Gods….
Climate is a front for the WEF and WHO to control the masses. Whatever is happening with the weather, it is evolution. And then excellerated by bombs and weapons testing in the oceans.
Cull herds while Irish Embassies open trade routes for beef exports
Or open more data centres.
They got confused with ” all you can eat data”
Climate crooks, you mean!
The Irish people have rejected the God of their forefathers and chosen instead to place themselves at the altar of the high priest of Gaia which approves the sacrifice of it’s unborn children and it’s subjugation to the dictates of worldly Kingdoms.
Ah but but James – just this Sunday our Holy Father the great scientist, assures the people of Mongolia that their unprecedented freezing weather is due to our sins of Emissions. In other words this terrible cold they are enduring is caused by global warming. He should know because all the green lunatics say so dontcha know.
Political commitments made without thoughts of consequences.
A common strand running through Irish politics for some time.
Al Gore of “An Inconvenient Truth” fame, spent the early noughies telling everyone rising sea levels would destroy large parts of the habitable world and we had about ten years to save the planet from a climate catastrophe. He then bought a sea side property for $7 million. The property is now worth north of $20 million.
Barack Obama spent eight years as US president promoting climate hysteria. He then, also bought a sea side property for millions once out of office.
So basically I will start taking the climate emergency seriously when I can buy a house on Sandymount Strand for five thousand euro and former US politicians have sold their water logged sea side properties for pennies on the dollar.
Well said. See ” Behind tge Green Mask” by Rosa Koire
Well said.
Many scientists say CO2 is not the problem. Some say we need more as it encourages plant growth.
Germany is pursuing a crazy energy policy with some commentators fearing a massive de industrialization, with mass unemployment. Our policy is as bad.
Europes green agenda will wreck the economy. I think it could cause the break up of the EU.
China is opening a large coal fired electricity plant every 10 days. India is not far behind.
The Greens beloved Climate Act is so barmy that much will need to be repealed or deferred. To my knowledge, international committments are far less stringent.
Only the most despotic,tyrannical regime could come close to achieving the targets the Greens got as the price of power. No democratic govt could do it. Any serious attempt to do so would wreck the economy and bring about protests and public disorder on an unprecedented scale
These targets are tantamount to suicide. Ireland may as weir shut up shop. There is no man made climate crisis. This is a means of control. It must be resisted at every turn.
Net c02 = 0 us. Climate hoax. We have a c02 deficit.
Electric vehicles are a dying duck.The badge of stupidity.
Synthetic hydo carbon is the future or possibly Hydrogen.
Actually bring back sugar beet industry as an ethanol raw material.
By the way Africa has greened in the last 20 years and Sahara has shrunk in size by 8% since 1987..That’s Nasa’s data
Net zero will achieve net zero, but at an horrendous cost to living standards.
The zealots will love that, who gives a dam about the plebs anyway.
“Meat + Dairy = Climate Crisis”? What’s their solution? Surely, if cows are spared from slaughter, there’d be more cows to release more methane into the atmosphere?
The WEF are saying that people who have small vegetable patches in the backyards are bad for the environment! We should all eat mass processed sprayed-food!
If we look at processed food…. they use huge combine harvestors and farm vehicles of all sorts, they spray the crops with health-damaging pesticides and herbicides. They use chemical fertilisers. The workers have to drive to work to the farms. Then the machines that have to process and package the food, using environment damaging gases and chemicals. The plastics come from the oil industry. Then they need to be shipped by diesel-guzzeling trucks to central warehouses or Gross markets, before they are sent to the supermarkets, by diesel guzzeling trucks. We have to drive to the supermakets, as do the staff, in order to buy the vegetables. To get that money, we need to drive work more. Then we drive home and we unpack the vegetables and throw the plastic, into the recycling bin, where it is collected and mostly burned!
On, The other hand, I go into the garden, do some enjoyable gardening. Collect rain-water for the plants and harvest the vegetables when I need them.
If this does not prove that the WEF are the biggest swindling-fraudsters of our time, what does? Climate is the excuse to make billions!
Brilliant comment.
Sadly tax payers pay these groups,NGOs etc for false imformation.They also have no say in who gets government funding.The Green Party are a insult to people like myself who love gardening,greening projects and in general the “enviroment” They have zero interest in solving the worlds problems.They spend massive amounts on NGOs,HAP payments,immigration,RTE and have went down a rabbit hole.A fraction of that money can do such good in other countries and also help improve quality of life and enhance african economies for their and our interests.We did it and so can Africa,all the solutions to their problems can not be to come here.I genuienly believe that Africa is a continent about to explode to being a world power.They just need an injection from western powers and a push to become the main food source for the world.I dare even say a replacement for the amazon .We need to fund countries directly and account for all money spent there.The problems are all easily solved with humanitarian interest at the forefront,not NGOs,not big business,just me you and paddy from somalia
It is such nonsense.There are plenty of solutions to climate change or rather de-carbonisation but our government are doing the opposite of that.Instead of taking in rapefugees,fakefugees and asylum shoppers we could actively be co operating and greening Africa.I recently watched a great documentary on the African Green wall and it delves into poly farming and taking back the deserts which in turn creates fruit and vegetables and work for communities.Ireland needs to be more active in helping with solutions and projects around the world instead of rimming the president of Ukraine and sending ships off the coast of africa to pick up spoofers.People who enter without a passport should be jailed and every last person entering should have their bloods done,vaccines updated and finger printed to a european database.Any crime ,be it after they get irish citizenship or not should be taken into account of their future in Ireland and the immediate expulsion from the Irish State and removal of Irish passport.I would even go back to the 1990s in this regard and start clamping down .Numbers will then fall and people wont be in a rush to come to the emerald isle.
A Tri State megapokis if 45 milliin is being planned for the Low Lands. If there really existed a climate crisis, why would a below sea level city be planned?
This is the second time around this block. I remember lecturing students in one of our august institutions on the impossibility of reaching emissions targets that were set about 10 yrs ago. The EPA set the targets at the time and were then to cut the level by approx 40% if I remember correctly. The EPA of course covered their tracks and said that these reductions were dependent on the numerous SEAI programs of the time achieving their targets. These had beautifully labelled soft landing flight plans graphically showing the reductions for every public body in the country. In reality, these were mostly fictitious and made no impression on the level of emissions.
I am convinced that more austere measures – like annual quotas for all – are required if this is to be met. But then a future serious recession could also work wonders.
Once again we have been signed up for economic suicide with no public debate.
So we are required to halve our carbon emissions while doubling our population? This is schoolboy economics point and squirt stage one.
The fact is, we are omnivores as a species, and have been for at least 1.6 million yrs. We need animal protein for optimal health. It is synthesised differently than plant protein in the body, and is advised that we consume 1 gram of animal protein per lb of body weight to maintain muscle mass, and we need more as we get older as our bodies our less able to process protein. This is very difficult to achieve on a plant based diet. Vegans are at the highest risk of becoming anaemic also btw, not to mention potential deficiencies of Vit A,B12,D,K2, omega 3, iron (as I mentioned), bone density, testosterone, thyroid issues etc. Why do we never hear any of these counter arguments put forth against the plant based activists? Meat is the most nutritionally dense thing we can eat, and the evidence for red meat being bad for you is extremely poor, regardless of what activists say. You can get there to some degree with a vegan diet, but you need to hit a tonne of bases and while it might be fine for some, it certainly is not for others, as we see many becoming sick due to these deficiencies.