Mr. Garret Molloy:

I stand proudly before the committee today to advocate for the National Standards Authority of Ireland (Carbon Footprint Labelling) Bill 2021. I do so because on this momentous day members of the committee have heard why we must act. Therefore, I am here to tell them how we must act. The Minister, Deputy Ryan, spoke about how we need a systematic change. I am here to offer one of these solutions. We are on a precipice and we refuse to take one step closer.

I thank the members of the committee for bringing youth voices to the Seanad Chamber today. This action is about public accountability. As the Minister, Deputy Ryan, said, in a democracy, the only way we can succeed in fighting climate change is by understanding the views of our elected politicians. Therefore, at the end of my speech I will put a question to the committee members and other attendees in this Chamber to find out their beliefs on carbon footprint labelling. I urge them to listen out for the question at the end of my speech.

Members of the committee know Government policies have a very real effect on the real world. I want them to imagine a world where we implement this Bill and introduce carbon footprint labelling. Imagine a world where you enter a grocery store, walk to the cereal aisle and look for your favourite brand of cereal. You pick up a boring box of cornflakes and read the ingredients. But what's this, you see a new bright green label which reads 5 g of carbon and carbon equivalents. You rustle through the other boxes of cornflakes and you see 4 g, 3 g or -2 g of carbon and carbon equivalents. What is this? One company has decided to reforest to offset its emissions. You choose the option of -2 g. As you leave the grocery store, you realise you directly helped create a competitive environment which sees firms competing to make the most environmentally friendly product, driving down emissions and preventing greenwashing. Carbon impact labelling has empowered you to act independently and advocate for climate justice by voting with your wallet.

With the support of the committee members, they can make that a reality. Nutritional labels help us make better food choices. Carbon footprint labels can do the same for sustainability. In simple terms, carbon footprint labelling mandates the labelling of products with their emissions of carbon dioxide and carbon dioxide equivalents. As indicated by the National Standards Authority of Ireland (Carbon Footprint Labelling) Bill 2021, this includes the emissions accruing from the manufacturing, shipping, use and disposal of the product. Therefore, consumers receive in simple language a comprehensive view of the emissions caused. This is not revolutionary. This is necessary for the future of Ireland's transition to a carbon-neutral society.

The National Standards Authority of Ireland is already working with the International Organization for Standardization to create a systematic approach to emissions quantification.

The Carbon Trust has aided the labelling of 27,000 individual products from large to small firms across the world. This can happen here in Ireland with Government action. The benefits of this Bill are twofold. In the direct sense, consumers make better choices when buying products. However, the most important and crucial benefit of this Bill is that we create a carbon competition mechanism.

I will now address this Bill's role in allowing consumers to make informed choices. What makes carbon emissions a hard problem to tackle is its elusiveness. Its impacts are not acknowledged or felt tangibly at the moment we create them. The effects of climate change resulting from purchases are not experienced until much later. Therefore, in the sale and purchasing of products, climate change is not at the forefront of consumer minds. We must make the intangibility of climate change tangible by implementing carbon footprint labelling.

The Bill addresses market failures and prevents greenwashing. To create a truly efficient marketplace that produces the best outcomes for society consumers must have reliable information. Markets have failed to provide the information and metrics necessary for informed consumer decisions on sustainability. This leads to harmful outcomes for society. We must correct this informational failure through enacting policy. What has happened while we have failed to correct this informational failure? Firms have abused this informational failure to their advantage, utilising greenwashing. We have seen the greenwashing in claims of partial recyclability, emissions reductions aims and even the use of the label "green product". Carbon footprint labelling holds companies accountable through a simple metric - grams of carbon emissions and carbon equivalents.

Finally and most importantly, incentivising consumers to purchase sustainably by ending the market's informational failures creates one crucial effect, namely, a carbon competition mechanism. What happens when we implement this Bill and consumers develop sustainable consumption habits? They choose products with the lowest carbon footprints. In doing this, they create a system of competition between firms based on emissions reduction. In the market's current state, corporations cannot effectively compete on the basis of sustainability, as greenwashing ensures there is no true metric for comparison. Therefore, consumers cannot differentiate between the product's true environmental impacts and are unable to purchase the most climate-friendly option. When consumers cannot effectively purchase the most climate-friendly option, firms have no incentive to compete with each other on the basis of emissions. Carbon impact labelling creates a system where firms can compete on sustainability through a simple metric, namely, emissions. This competition metric directly incentivises firms to reduce their emissions without forcing the hand of government intervention. Now companies are not incentivised by government grants and mandates but by increased profits and sales to develop and decarbonise their manufacturing processes.

In conclusion, carbon footprint labelling harnesses our economic systems strength. A carbon competition mechanism creates competition on the basis of emissions reductions to incentivise innovation in firms' independent sustainability actions. I have shown the committee how this Bill ensures, first, consumers make sustainable decisions, second, ends greenwashing and, third, creates a carbon competition mechanism to lower emissions.

I will now address concerns that have been brought by policymakers such as committee members when this Bill entered the House. First, carbon footprint labelling would create no more of a regulatory burden for firms than nutritional labelling. I will discuss the regulatory burden of implementing this policy. While nutritional labels measure components such as polyunsaturates, saturates, sugars and calories, carbon footprint labelling would measure carbon and carbon equivalents. We must acknowledge that ensuring nutritional labelling was hard but it was worth it to help prevent obesity. Ensuring climate labelling will be less rigorous and have even more of a benefit, helping to end an Earth-destroying climate crisis.

Regarding concerns about small firms, the National Standards Authority of Ireland, NSAI, should train carbon calculator experts and give small firms the opportunity to voluntarily participate in the scheme. However, just as with nutritional labelling, we do not envisage that it would be mandatory for small firms. They should have the option of voluntary participation. This should be targeted at large and medium-sized firms.

On the subject of trade policy, we have heard concerns from Members of the Dáil in this area. This does not disrupt the EU Single Market. There already exists separate environmental regulations on products in France, Switzerland, Italy and Sweden. This Bill is not unprecedented; it is the right action when we must solve climate change.

We have heard that we must wait to see the results of the European sustainable products initiative before implementing this policy but, as indicated by reports, this European sustainable product initiative would be significantly less comprehensible to the consumer and would fail to produce a carbon competition mechanism, all while imposing just as great a regulatory burden. Ireland must therefore advocate at the highest level for carbon footprint labelling. This means working at an EU level of see this instituted across countries in the European Union. There is no better way to do this than by setting an effective and simple policy example here in this Republic. I see a day when we create carbon neutrality on the island of Ireland. When that day happens, I know that carbon footprint labelling will be part of that successful policy.

I have reached the end of my speech. Let me ask members the question I said I would ask when I began. Could committee members and attendees please raise their hands if they believe the policy of carbon footprint labelling should be considered for implementation?