Climate change review: NESC interim report
Tackling climate change can become a national project with real economic benefits, analysis by the National Economic and Social Council suggests. eolas considers its proposals.
Ireland’s 2020 targets on climate change provide an opportunity to build a “more unified government and societal project” and drive the transition to a low carbon economy, the National Economic and Social Council (NESC) has stated in ‘Towards a New National Climate Policy’.
The interim report, commissioned by Environment Minister Phil Hogan, was published in June and the final report is due to be submitted by the end of the year. The NESC secretariat strongly supports the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government’s determination to move beyond a compliance-centric approach.
Current policy commits the State to sourcing 16 per cent of gross final energy consumption from renewable sources: 10 per cent in transport, 12 per cent in heat and 33 per cent in electricity. The Government has also adopted an EU target of a 20 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions between 2005 and 2020.
Actions to reduce carbon emissions must be consistent with economic recovery, employment generation and fiscal correction and, on a positive note, with “increased Irish prosperity in the decades ahead”. Climate change should therefore not be seen as a distraction from or an addition to domestic economic policy and public sector reform.
The purpose of national and EU climate change policy is the “gradual, permanent and widespread decarbonisation of the economy” rather than complying with a particular set of targets and timetables. Many actions, technologies and practices needed to achieve this will only yield their full potential after “considerable time” and early action is needed in the areas where decarbonisation will take time.
Energy efficiency in buildings provides the greatest technical potential for reducing emissions and improvements can pay for themselves through reduced energy costs and reduced dependence on fossil fuels. Constraints on public finances dictate a shift from grants to alternative options e.g. pay-as-you-save.
The challenge in transport should be redefined “in more entrepreneurial and experimental terms” e.g. to mobilise ESB to solve problems facing electric vehicles or Bord Gáis on gas-based freight. Improvements in energy technology must be tracked so that Ireland can capture the benefits in car, van and truck use.
In agriculture, climate change policy “can be complementary” to the sector’s achievements and ambitions. Leading farms and food companies are already working towards greater efficiency, better environmental practices and a low carbon footprint.
Supply and demand problems were holding back progress on renewable heat and renewable transport policy. The work that is taking place must be monitored and discussed to ensure that its full potential is captured.
Higher carbon taxation, in the NESC’s view, would have a limited impact on mitigating climate change but is important as a support for other policy measures, a signal to economic actors and a source of revenue. The property tax could be designed in a way that incentivises and rewards energy efficiency.
Ireland may need to buy carbon credits to implement policy effectively but their future price and accessibility remains uncertain. The NESC’s emphasis is on policies that “chime most fully” with recovery, employment, competitiveness, energy security and public sector reform.
The project was led by NESC Director Dr Rory O’Donnell and the council has acknowledged assistance from government departments, interest groups in the environmental sector and Professor Frank Convery and his staff at University College Dublin’s Earth Institute. Its final report will develop the basis for a “long-term socio-economic vision” on a low carbon future, leading up to 2050.
