Brian Leddin (Limerick City, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Against that it might be argued that electric vehicles are not quite zero emissions vehicles. There is still a residual carbon cost. If we got to 80% renewables use by 2030, which would be brilliant, there would still be 20% of the power for those vehicles coming from fossil fuels. It is not part of the accounting system but we should also consider the embodied emissions associated with electric vehicles. It is not correct for it to be called the zero emissions vehicles Ireland office because it is not and cannot be that.

I ask about the vehicle kilometre reduction target for fossil fuel-powered vehicles. It is 10%. It seems that is pretty meaningless in the context of the target of 850,000 electric vehicles by 2030. We should easily eclipse that 10% target for vehicle kilometre reductions in internal combustion engine vehicles. If that target is for vehicles powered by fossil fuels, it should be much higher. If it is not, are we saying we will not achieve the target in the first instance? Are we not being true to the avoid, shift and improve principle if we do not apply it to the total number of kilometres driven? If we are not applying it to the total number of kilometres driven, are we saying there will be an equal or greater number of kilometres driven by vehicles in 2030 when the avoid, shift and improve approach means we want to get people onto other modes, first and foremost, and reduce the need for driving?