Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 20 January 2016

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade

COP21: Discussion (Resumed)

10:30 am

Photo of Mark DalyMark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their presentation. The key issue is fossil fuel, a topic on which the leader of the Green Party, Eamon Ryan, and others have spoken, and the fact that 80% of the oil that we know exists in the world today must remain in the ground. What I have not seen from all the commitments that have been made is the commitment from the oil industry to allow that. Ultimately profit is king. Governments can make pledges but companies can continue to extract oil from the ground. At present oil is cheap and there is no reason that companies will not continue to do that. In essence no target will be met. If we continue to burn fossil fuel, and there is no reason that it will not continue, then we will not meet the target in any shape or form. Did the oil industry make any commitment to the Paris agreement?

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