Mr. Jerry MacEvilly:

I thank the Chair and committee members for the opportunity to present on behalf of Friends of the Earth. We support the recommendations by the other Stop Climate Chaos coalition members. My longer written statement contains additional information on the recommendations to both this committee and Government that I will discuss.

The committee is well aware that climate breakdown is already with us, impacting Ireland and especially vulnerable communities in developing countries.

The UN Emissions Gap Report recently concluded that we are headed for a disastrous temperature rise of almost 3°C based on current state pledges. The only way to ensure a liveable planet is to substantially and equitably reduce the extraction and consumption of fossil fuels in Ireland and globally. The IPCC, the UN and the IEA are all clear that further fossil fuel production and infrastructure expansion are incompatible with the 1.5°C limit. The point is that technological innovation and a renewables revolution are not enough; hard limits on fossil fuels are essential.

Yet fossil fuels remain the elephant in the room in terms of climate negotiations. It is important for this committee to consider public perception here. A multilateral process barely capable of even mentioning fossil fuels thus far, while seemingly dominated by fossil fuel interests, threatens the very credibility of the COP. The COP negotiations will remain essential. However, the public may increasingly ask why they should support climate action at home when the fossil fuel elephant in the room is seemingly deprioritised at the negotiating table.

In terms of the COP itself, the EU negotiating position includes strong calls for the energy sector to be "predominantly free of fossil fuels well [ahead] of 2050", have "a decarbonised power system in the 2030s", and "a tripling...of renewable energy" and "doubling...of energy efficiency by 2030". However, it also includes the demand for the "global phase-out of unabated fossil fuels", though subject to some important qualifications. The EU Parliament's subsequent resolution on the EU's COP engagement, while not a negotiating mandate, points to a willingness at political level for an enhancement of the EU's position. The parliament does not limit its support to a phasing out of unabated fossil fuels; rather it calls for "a tangible phase-out from all fossil fuels as soon as possible", as well as a "halting [of] new investments".

It is worth briefly addressing the risk of a call for a phase-out of only "unabated fossil fuels", understood as referring to technologies like carbon capture and storage, CCS. We note certain emissions removal activities have been raised as being necessary for Paris Agreement commitments to remain within reach. However, the creation of such an unabated category must not be accepted at COP28. CCS projects remain speculative, unproven, not commercially viable, associated with environment or health risks and-or have failed outright. The greatest concern is that this unabated formulation may result in a loophole or a perverse incentive for states and companies to continue to expand the use of fossil fuels while these technologies have limited impact, thereby locking in further polluting emissions. This is not a theoretical problem. Precisely this scenario is playing out in the UK, where the Conservative Party Government approved yet more fossil fuel exploration, together with new support for CCS. This has been met with widespread criticism as essentially being tone-deaf to the climate crisis.

At COP28, governments will produce a response to the first global stocktake of climate pledges. We know the result of this stocktake will indicate that states' pledges, or nationally determined contributions, NDCs, have fallen short of Paris Agreement commitments. It has already been proposed that this response include demands noted in the EU's position on tripling renewables and doubling energy efficiency. We understand there may be support from the US and China for a global renewable target, although their support for any agreement on fossil fuel phase-out is much less certain. In October, however, Ireland and 15 other states, as part of the high ambition coalition, also released a statement on the global stocktake, which includes calls for a phase-out of fossil fuel production and use, urgent reductions in methane, the ending of fossil fuel finance and subsidies, as well as the renewables and energy efficiency goals mentioned earlier.

Our main recommendation to the committee is that the Government and the EU must work to ensure the text is not only limited to renewables and energy efficiency, but is complemented by clear fossil fuel phase-out language, in line with the positions of the European Parliament and High Ambition Coalition. We understand the Government will prioritise a call for innovative forms of finance, potentially including taxation of fossil fuel industry profits to assist with access to clean energy in developing countries. This is significant, commendable and necessary. However, without fossil fuel phase-out commitments, the benefits of the development of renewables will continue to be dwarfed by the impacts of fossil fuel production and expansion.

There are other diplomatic avenues the Government should exploit to deliver lasting change. Last year, we provided information to this committee on the development of a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty. We outlined that Ireland's support for such a treaty is strategic given the country's rejection of exploration licences, membership of the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance, alignment with small islands states at the UN and the Department of Foreign Affairs' proud tradition of supporting other non-proliferation treaties related to nuclear weapons and disarmament. The global stocktake will only reinforce arguments that a new binding framework is needed. This proposed treaty also aligns with the fossil fuel recommendations in the EU Council and European Parliament positions.

To be clear, this is not about deprioritising the Paris Agreement; it is about complementing it and acknowledging that we do not have time. Fossil fuel projects simply cannot be accepted.

To conclude, eight years after the signing of the Paris Agreement, the fact that questions remain about states' capacity to make an explicit statement on fossil fuel phase out speaks not only to the malign influence of the fossil fuel industry but, equally, to a lack of political leadership and weaknesses in the COP process.

This is not some call now to disregard multilateral efforts; rather, it signals that long in advance of COP the negotiating position of states and the EU needs to be subject to much greater scrutiny and oversight and explicit in the need for fossil fuel phase out. For Ireland, this starts with this committee.

We ask the committee to write to the Ministers for the Environment, Climate and Communications and Foreign Affairs to: support the European Parliament and the High Ambition Coalition positions and advocate for a response to the global stock take which includes commitments to a tangible and equitable phase out from all fossil fuels as soon as possible, as well as a halting of investments in fossil fuel extraction; call for climate pledges - NDCs - to also integrate plans and targets for ceasing expansion and use of fossil fuels, as well as phasing out existing infrastructure; and convene like-minded states and use the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance, BOGA, to build diplomatic support for a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty and develop a UN resolution on this issue.

Finally, we also now call on committee members to endorse the fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty in the run up to COP.