Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

That is a good question. It is finally dawning on people that this is a matter of exceptional importance. I would heed the warning given by former President Robinson who has a great deal of expertise in this area. Whether the timescale is as brief as she points out is something I cannot judge but clearly when one looks at weather patterns all over the world, one can see the changing nature of the ferocity of nature and its impact on water levels and human life in various parts of the world. Clearly, a pretty serious change has taken place in the last number of years.

The Government has made a clear commitment in the programme for Government to develop a national position on climate change, including introducing legislation. The officials have met on a regular basis and the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Hogan, is now in a position, having concluded his Bill on climate action and low-carbon development, to publish it very shortly. I expect that is a matter which will take some considerable discussion here. Ireland's greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets for 2020 are set by the 2009 EU effort-sharing decision. Ireland's target for the non-emissions trading sectors is to limit its growth of greenhouse gas emissions to 20% below 2005 levels between the period 2013 and 2020. The non-emissions trading sectors cover sectors which are outside the EU emissions trading scheme and include the agriculture, transport, residential and waste sectors. Deputy Adams will be aware of the challenge this presents to Ireland in the context of the removal of milk quotas in 2015, when we will become one of the most heavily productive areas on the planet in the agri sector. It is an ambitious and challenging target from an Irish perspective, particularly given the scale of the agricultural sector here and the scale of emissions associated with it, as well as the limited mitigation potential in the sector. Obviously, it is a challenge. Last year's update from the Environmental Protection Agency showed that Ireland remains on course to comply with its mitigation trajectory in the first half of the compliance period up to 2016. Compliance in the subsequent years, 2017 to 2020, is more challenging. There will need to be a range of legislative issues and policy responses to deal with the scale of that challenge.

In respect of the report from the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, I met Dr. Rajendra Pachouri when he was here in 2012. In recent weeks, the IPCC issued the second and third instalments of the fifth assessment report. These publications are to be welcomed and I expect that they will have an important bearing on international climate change negotiations and on a new climate treaty by the end of 2015. No more than the comments of former President Robinson, these reports are a stark reminder of the challenges facing humanity vis-à-visthe climate change issue. The latest IPCC working group report assesses mitigation options for different sectors of the economy, including energy supply, transport, human settlements, urbanisation and planning, agriculture and forestry. It highlights that international co-operation is required to effectively mitigate greenhouse gas emissions on the scale required and to address other climate change issues. It tells us that in the years 2000 to 2010, total anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions were the highest in human history, with carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels and industry contributing 78% of that total. Continued greenhouse gas emissions at current levels are now projected to increase the global mean surface temperature from 3.7˚ to 4.8˚ above pre-industrial levels, which is far short of the 2˚ target that needs to be achieved. The report makes it clear that very significant efforts are both necessary and challenging. That is what Ireland and our European colleagues are working hard to achieve in the context of the international negotiations aimed at reaching a global agreement in 2015.

Deputy Adams will be aware that the previous IPCC working group report published at the end of March last focused on climate adaptation. It identified vulnerable people, industries and ecosystems around the world. It made a strong case that governments, citizens and businesses can decrease emissions by taking smart actions. Indeed, that is the focus of Ireland's strategy for climate mitigation and adaptation. That IPCC report draws on a wide body of research and analysis from scientists all over the world, including from Ireland. It is based on robust scientific evidence and has an important role in informing governments about the nature, extent and causes of global warming and in pointing out the current and expected future impacts of climate change on our planet.

For our part, we are fully engaged with the EU and at international level and are concerned to see that we make progress towards a global agreement by the end of 2015. We have a particular interest in the report's analysis of food security. We are proud to have one of the most carbon-efficient agriculture sectors in the world and we are to the forefront in the EU in making the case that sustainable food production has to be a primary consideration in developing a global approach to climate change mitigation.

In terms of our position on climate change, we will outline our approach to climate mitigation and adaptation in the near future, following the publication of the Bill. As I said earlier, former President Robinson's remarks are quite stark. There is more information available with regard to the longer term but when the Bill is published, we can have an engagement here and a proper interaction in the House on many of these issues.

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