Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I commend the representatives from the Children and Young People's Assembly on Biodiversity Loss who presented to the climate committee yesterday. They presented their report to the members of the committee, and I must say it was heartening to hear the depth of their knowledge on biodiversity and the range of topics they covered in the recommendations. I encourage everyone to read that report. Interestingly, one of the recommendations was on overconsumption. It coincides with the report from Oxfam this week, which has shown that the richest 1% of people are omitting as much planet-heating solution as two thirds of humanity. The carbon emissions of the richest 1% of people surged to 16% of the world's total carbon dioxide emissions in 2019.

It is not just a matter of billionaires and the rest of the population, because the top 10% of the Irish population by income level also emits as much as the bottom 50% of earners. We must have adequate data collection so we can inform policy-making to target these high-net-worth individuals and this overconsumption. We cannot do this unless we have the data. I have repeatedly called here for the need for the EPA and the CSO to collect the data so we can have the likes of wealth taxes, which Sinn Féin has repeatedly called for but the Government refuses to cost. I refer as well to taxes on private jets and private yachts, for example. All these could be introduced if we had the data to identify exactly how many individuals own these types of products. Once again, therefore, I call on the Government to heed this call and the call from Oxfam in this regard. If we want a just transition and to really tackle climate change, then we must tackle the people who are the biggest emitters, and these are the high earners and the high-net-income people and we need the data to do this. I again commend the young people yesterday on their call to target overconsumption as a key measure in biodiversity and climate action.