Mr. Garret Molloy:

I will respond to some concerns that were raised about the carbon footprint labelling Bill. I will respond to concerns about the Bill with regard to the principle that it will shift responsibility from firms to consumers. While this is a good principle, it has been misapplied in this case for three reasons.

First, this carbon competition mechanism holds firms accountable because it shows consumers how much these firms are emitting and, therefore, consumers can make decisions on that basis. Firms will no longer have the chance to put on a label stating that people should probably recycle their products when it is not actually possible to do so. We think the Bill covers that. Second, we think consumers can now essentially boycott the product that has the highest emissions. If people buy something simple, such as porridge, they will be able to boycott the product using the most emissions to create that product. Therefore, the highest carbon emitter, or the firm that produces the most emissions, would be forced to stop its emissions or business would be given to firms using sustainable practices. In fact, the Bill does not shift the blame to consumers. It does the opposite and puts the blame onto the firms themselves. We heard a little from a Senator on how Sinn Féin's new Bill will mandate firms to display their carbon emissions on their products. It was mentioned how such firms will go through scope one and scope two, which would show energy usage, and scope three which will show manufacturing and shipping. However, this is a misinterpretation of the policy which, as outlined in this 2021 Bill, would cover manufacturing, shipping, use and disposal of the product. Therefore, it is not actually under that scope.

I will address a question to Deputy Bruton. We talked a little about the practicality of this policy and he stated that it was not necessarily practical to implement it. We talked a little about how it is impossible to calculate the emissions from producing a steak but in reality that is not necessarily true. As I mentioned, the International Organization for Standardization creates ways in which we can calculate the emissions related to our steaks and other products. We think that the Deputy's concern is not necessarily applicable in this scenario. Ireland should implement this standardisation because the Carbon Trust has shown that it is possible. We have already labelled 27,000 products under the scheme. Unilever will label 70,000 of its individual products through this carbon footprint labelling scheme. How do we calculate Ireland's national emissions if we are unable to calculate those relating to a steak? It is possible to calculate emissions. It is something that is under way and continuously happens through the International Organization for Standardization. We therefore ask Ireland to standardise this practice in line with that organisation, as the National Standards Authority of Ireland is already doing. It is possible and practical and, therefore, carbon labels should be introduced. Does Deputy Bruton think carbon labelling should be introduced?