Professor John Sweeney:

I can answer the question on the burden. There are huge advantages in being an early mover in changing to the low carbon economy or lifestyle that countries are now doing and benefitting from internationally. Yes, enforced reductions may well accelerate that transition. Maybe the word I used was not appropriate but the burden presumably works both ways. Maybe 33% is not a burden either for agriculture. I would not want to imply that the committee has not taken the climate emergency seriously. I have very much listened in awe to the activities of the committee over the past two years around its pre-legislative scrutiny of the Climate Action Bill and the insight that it has shown. The big problem, as the council's chair, Ms Donnelly said yesterday, is leadership. It is leadership that we now need so urgently to put these policies and this legal requirement into practice. That is where I would have most concern.

On the budget the Deputy mentioned, am I suggesting that the first budget should be higher? Yes, I am. The reason or excuse - and I use the word "excuse" not wisely but loosely - is that we have not got the infrastructure and technical aspects ready yet. However, there are short-term contingencies that we can do in responding to an emergency. One of the Deputies raised the notion of stopping artificial insemination for a couple of years. That is something we could have looked at. We could look at restricting car movements in city centres. We could tax some of the less beneficial environmental practices more than we do now. There are short-term things that we can do over the next 18 months. I am rather old and in a hurry now. I am not going to wait for ten years for another carbon budget to come along. Having seen what happened in 2000 and onwards I think the time for implementation is now. We should not wait for something coming around the corner whether it is infrastructure, a magic bullet or whatever. We have to grasp this by the horns in the next 18 months. For that reason, I think the provisions of the climate plan really need to be toughened up very considerably.