Bríd Smith says 'Not in a transition - we're at war' on climate
Bríd Smith challenged the pace and depth of the climate transition in a Dáil speech, arguing there is no real move away from fossil fuels and that current policies are insufficient. She said the country is 'not in a transition' but 'in a war', criticising data centre approvals, support for LNGs, licensing of oil extraction such as Barry Rowe, and reliance on market-led solutions.
Main argument
Bríd Smith warned that rhetoric on transition is not matched by action, comparing progress to Sisyphus pushing a boulder that slips back. She cited examples such as the purchase of electric buses and claimed home retrofits being offset by new data centre permissions, talk of a new airport runway and a spike in car sales.
Global emissions and industry behaviour
She referenced Global Carbon Project figures that fossil fuel emissions in 2021 reached 36.4 billion tonnes of CO2, only 0.8% below the 2019 pre-pandemic high, with gas up 2% and coal up 1% between 2019 and 2021, and global emissions now 60% higher than in 1990. She also noted reporting that 20 major oil and gas companies, including Shell and Exxon, are projected to spend $932 billion by 2030 developing new oil and gas fields, and cited Influence Maps and DeSmog findings on industry lobbying and PR activity after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Domestic policy and gaps
Bríd Smith said the EPA has made clear Ireland is failing to meet targets set in the Government's Climate Action Plan and that significant gaps exist across transport, agriculture and energy. She argued the targets themselves were inadequate and criticised carbon taxes that fall on ordinary people while subsidising retrofits and electric vehicle purchases for wealthier households.
Human cost and urgency
She warned of escalating heat extremes, pointing to record temperatures in India and North Africa and the growing frequency of dangerous wet-bulb conditions. She invoked the 2003 European heatwave that killed thousands as an example of climate-driven human mortality now becoming more common.
Call for systemic change
Bríd Smith rejected reliance on markets or hoped-for technologies, saying that radical, far-reaching policies called for by the IPCC in 2018 have not been delivered. She argued the economic system and its priorities must be challenged, insisting there is 'no middle ground' and that it is time to 'growl'.
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Ghramad Ghaitha, Cahirleach. Minister, there is an old joke about the weather. Everyone talks about it, but no one ever does anything about it. And it feels the same with the transition. Everyone is in favour of it. Even the usual climate denial TDs in this Dáil talk about how and when the transition should happen. But my main concern here is that despite the rhetoric, there is no actual transition taking place. What progress there is in any area is akin to Sisyphus pushing the boulder up the hill, and for every step forward we see the boulder slip down again. For every electric bus we purchase or every claim of a home retrofitted, we see another data centre permitted or hear talk of a new airport runway or a spike in car sales. And this isn't just my impression. If you look at the global picture, it's very clear there is no real transition taking place away from fossil fuels. The Global Carbon Project estimated that fossil fuel emissions in 2021 will reach 36.4 billion tonnes of CO2. It is only 0.8% below their pre-pandemic high in 2019. Both coal and gas emissions have already surpassed their pre-pandemic levels with a 2% increase in gas emissions and a 1% increase in coal emissions between 2019 and 2021. Since the first Coyote Climate Conference, global carbon emissions have continued to rise and are 60% higher today than they were in 1990. In April, we found that just 20 of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, including the likes of Shell, Exxon and Gasbron, are projected to spend $932 billion by the end of 2030 in developing new oil and gas fields. In May, we found out that the oil and gas industry took advantage of the war in Ukraine to spread misinformation about the causes of the energy crisis in order to apply political pressure and pursue a long-standing wish list of policy changes. This is according to a report by Influence Maps. The online site DeSmog reported oil executives and lobbyists conducting a PR blitz in the days following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. We see the same results to some extent in this House with the clamour by some TDs for LNGs, support for Barry Rowe, the same voices, the same contempt for the climate crisis and the same greed that informs these campaigns globally. So, my question is exactly what transition we are talking about. In Ireland, the EPA has made it clear that we are failing to meet the targets the Government set in the Climate Action Plan. A significant gap exists across all sectors in terms of planned cuts, in emissions, in those of transport, agriculture, energy, etc. That is bad enough, but the targets themselves were inadequate and not in line with the science or the scale of the crisis we face. We are not in a transition. We are in a war. We are not in a transition when we think that it is okay to build more data centres or to build LNGs or to licence the extraction of 300 million barrels of oil in Barry Rowe. Or indeed to implement carbon taxes on ordinary people whose sole purpose seems to be to pay for retrofitting for the already wealthier sections of society or to subsidise the purchase of electric vehicles. Radical and far-reaching policies were what the IPCC report said in 2018 were what were needed. We are still awaiting those policies. In the meantime, in India and North Africa, we see more record-breaking temperatures where the limits of human endurance, the so-called wet bulb temperature, is now exceeded with alarming regularity. Temperatures and humidity where the body is unable to cool itself by sweating, as was seen in 2003 in the European heatwave, and that killed thousands of people. This is now a regular occurrence on the planet. What were once events of a hundred or a thousand years are now a decade and sometimes yearly. We will not get the transition we need until we begin to challenge the economic systems and its priorities that are driving this crisis. That means challenging the very logic of capitalism and free markets. There is no middle ground in this war. Hoping that the market will deliver some magic new technology or invest sufficiently in renewables is a child's hope. Good, its time we growl. It's time we growl. warmer τού. d
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