Paul Murphy: Calls Government carbon budget a cop-out
Paul Murphy spoke on 8 February 2022 about the Committee Report on Carbon Budgets, accusing the Government of seeking to ram the report through without a House debate and calling its measures a cop-out. He argued the report’s reduction rates fall short of commitments, undermine Paris and EU targets, rely on unproven technologies and ignore aviation and shipping emissions.
Main objection
Paul Murphy said the programme for Government promised 7% annual reductions but the Committee Report contains 4.8% for the time of this Government. He cited Professor Barry McMullen’s calculation that, extending to the end of the decade, the measures amount to an average 6% reduction and said that breaks the programme for Government, the Paris Climate Treaty, EU emissions targets and the science.
Technology and omissions
He criticised the report’s reliance on future carbon capture and storage, calling those technologies unproven and non-existent, and highlighted that aviation and shipping emissions are ignored in the budgets.
Demand for parliamentary debate
Murphy appealed to the Taoiseach to allow time for debate in the DAW schedule, arguing there is time to discuss the Committee Report and that the Government should not ram it through without scrutiny.
Broader political critique
He warned of a pattern of postponement and resistance - citing earlier calls to delay a carbon tax - and said the younger generation need decisive action on climate change. He rejected attempts to create a bogey against the Green Party and criticised the tendency to make climate debates temporary moral displays after international conferences like COP26.
Anticipated resistance to concrete measures
Murphy predicted that while many will say the budgets are insufficient, once specific measures are proposed people will oppose them, and he warned that this cycle of delay and opposition will shape the climate debate in the years ahead.
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The Commission on Carbon Budgets and ultimately decisions that will be made will be one of the most important decisions made by this DAW, but the Government proposes to ram through the Committee Report on Carbon Budgets with no opportunity whatsoever to debate it here in the House, and the truth is for that, I think, is because what is contained in the Committee Report is a cop-out, and the programme for Government promised 7% annual reductions, but what is contained there is 4.8% for the time of this Government. Even extending out to the end of the decade, Professor Barry McMullen has pointed out that they amount to an average 6% average reduction. It breaks the programme for Government, it breaks the Paris Climate Treaty, it breaks the EU emissions targets, and most importantly, it breaks the actual science in terms of what needs to be done. It relies on unproven, non-existing carbon capture and storage technologies in the future, and it ignores the impact of aviation and shipping emissions. So, at the very, very least, we have to have a debate on it, and we actually have time in the DAW schedule to have that debate, so I appeal to the Taoiseach to accept that. The Deputy Deputy Paul Murphy raised the carbon budget issue, and again, that did go through committee, there was debate at committee level, and what I am struck with by all of the debates to do with climate change, you know, everybody wants to delay the day of reckoning, it seems to me on all fronts. We had it earlier in the cost of living debate, when people were saying postpone the carbon tax, you just postpone it, and the same will happen with carbon budgets, and everybody will say it is not enough, but when specific measures are going to be put on the table, in respect of realising these objectives, everybody will oppose them. This is going to be the story of climate change for the next number of years. There you go again. You know, all you seem to want to do is create a bogey, the Green Party are the greatest evil since time began, and they are not actually. Deputy McGrath, they are not. The younger generation of this country need us to deal with climate change once and for all. We cannot keep on postponing climate change, we cannot keep on delaying climate change. And all that happens is that every time there is a big conference like COP26 or whatever, everybody is all to do for about a week or two. But when we actually try and do something concrete about it, get the carbon budget issues resolved, there are objections, and it goes on. Question. Question. Question. Question. Question. Question. Question. Question. Question. Question. Question. Question. Question. Question. Question.
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