Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 16 February 2022

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation

Development of Indigenous Irish Enterprise: Discussion

Photo of Paul MurphyPaul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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I thank the witnesses for their presentations. My questions are mostly for Mr. Clancy. Ambition 4, as set out in the opening statement and the Enterprise Ireland, EI, strategy, is "Irish enterprises leading globally on sustainability and achieving climate action targets", which is mainly measured in terms of the climate action plan target of a 29% to 41% reduction in emissions from the enterprise sector. How does that tally with the big emphasis on increasing exports? Does that not contradict it to some degree? Goods exports are transported around the world by fossil fuels. The WTO says approximately 20% to 30% of total carbon dioxide emissions are associated with international trade. More than 7% of greenhouse gas emissions come from international freight transport. If one increases goods exports, it seems very difficult to achieve reductions in carbon emissions.