Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 27 June 2017

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach

Fossil Fuel Divestment Bill 2016: Discussion

4:00 pm

Ms Cliona Sharkey:

It is incredibly important in respect of the symbolic message that it would send both in Ireland and internationally. Article 2 of the Paris Agreement includes a commitment to align finance flows with the decarbonisation agenda and, therefore, this would be a clear and concrete response to that. As Ms Finnan said in her opening statement, action has to increase before 2020 if the agreement's temperature limits are to be viable. This would be a clear, concrete and timely response to the commitment to show the way for other investors.