Mr. David Healy:

I am aware that there are two climate scientists in the room, but my understanding of the black carbon issue is that the feeling in 1992 was that the science was not sufficiently developed. In the time since, particularly in recent years, the issue has received a great deal more scientific attention. To be honest, many scientific questions remain about it in some respects, but what is known is that black carbon forms a significant part of the cumulative global warming effects of human activity. As a result, there has been an important initiative, the Climate and Clean Air Coalition, which the EU joined under the Minister, Deputy Hogan, a little over one month ago. He mentioned it at the outset of the Irish Presidency in January. It has been a consistent part of the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government's engagement.

This area of activity is outside the UNFCCC for historical reasons, in that it was not included in the framework convention's list of covered gases. As it is not a gas, it is not covered by the definition in the heads of the Bill. As with Deputy Murphy's Bill, providing for other forcing agents in the legislation's scope would be relatively straightforward for the Government.

Strong targets are a key element of the UK legislation. The interaction between the UK climate change commission and the UK Government in recent years has been instructive, forming part of a back-and-forward public debate on climate policy and keeping difficult policy decisions in the public eye. The commission has been in a position to push the long-term goal and to ask about the long-term implications of Government proposals on same. In terms of Scotland, the additional aspect is the climate fund. We could learn from this.