Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank our guests for their presentation. On targets, the submission refers to a target of reducing carbon emissions by 95% by 2050. How realistic is this target in the case of Ireland, particularly considering the quantity of food the country produces and is expected to produce in the short and medium term? The document also notes that an Irish citizen produces 93 times more carbon that a citizen of Malawi. While I am not questioning the figure, if accurate, it is staggering and should be viewed in the context of the proposed 95% reduction in carbon emissions.

The submission states that a business-as-usual approach to climate change will result in a catastrophic increase of 6° Celsius by the end of the century. Most other commentators cite a figure of between 2°C and 4°C. An increase of 6°C would wipe out millions, if not billions, of people and would have catastrophic effects on agriculture, the environment, sea levels and so forth. On what is the figure of 6°C based? I concur with many of the views expressed by the Stop Climate Chaos coalition, members of which I have met previously.