Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this matter. The role of this House is to give time to issues and go into detail on them which may not be easily addressed in a legislative discussion. The broad issues of climate change and energy security which we address today are worthy of our time, attention and discussion.

This debate is timely. The price of oil peaked at approximately $100 per barrel during the past week and we will send representatives to the UNFCC conference on climate change in Bali within the next two weeks. A common understanding on why we will take a position and what position we will take will be of benefit. We need a wider debate throughout the country on these two issues, particularly climate change. While it is a news story and has been topical in recent years, a sense may exist that it has become an old story overnight. People feel they have heard it and are now ignoring it.

The Irish people need a far greater understanding of the true extent of the challenge presented by climate change and the importance of our response. The people need simple understanding of the significance of the science of climate change, which is now undisputed and clear. The gap in understanding the issue is stark. A recent survey which asked English people their views on climate change showed that in a country which is home to some of the leading climate change scientists and where the newspapers and other media take a leading role in highlighting the issue, at least two thirds of the population do not have a core belief that the science held up. It behoves us as politicians to lead our people by understanding the science of climate change.

According to the latest IPCC report we should fear allowing the world to go beyond a 2° increase in average global temperature. This will require a stabilisation of global emissions within ten to 15 years followed by a reduction of at least 50% in emissions over the next 45 years. This will require developed countries which are historically responsible for most of the emissions which remain in the atmosphere for at least 200 years to consider cutting our emissions by 60% to 80% over this period.

This is at a time when projections show that energy use, the main cause of our emissions, is likely to increase by 50% rather than decrease. The scale of this challenge in the remainder of our lifetimes is beyond any other challenge undertaken by mankind. If we ignore this challenge, the threat posed is beyond any catastrophe, war, famine or natural disaster which occurred on the planet for hundreds of millions of years. As politicians responsible for leading our people through the dramatic change ahead of us, we cannot ignore this.

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