Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan and I have ten minutes each but we will try to cut that time to allow Deputy Catherine Connolly in.

The world's rich and powerful are gathering for their annual jubilee in Davos.

Among them would be at least some of the world's eight richest men who own the same wealth as 3.6 billion people, half the world's population. The World Economic Forum has listed climate change as the second-most important global concern next to income inequality. However, that will not stop a significant number of the 3,000 expected to attend from flying into Davos in their private jets. A private jet uses the same amount of fuel in one hour as an average car does in a year. Of course, one could not possibly expect our lords and masters to mingle with common folk on public transport. If people were serious about climate change, they would put that into action.

Tomorrow a climate change denier will be inaugurated as President of the United States. He has appointed another climate change denier, Scott Pruitt, as head of the EPA in the US. Mr. Pruitt as Attorney General in Oklahoma has a record as long as your arm in pursuing lawsuits in conjunction with fossil fuel companies against the EPA. He is now making noises that he accepts there is some impact of people's activity on climate warming, but his record speaks for itself.

These fossil fuel companies pose the greatest threat to achieving the Paris climate change targets. There is no commitment by any of the world's major fossil fuel companies to achieving the 2% cap stipulated in the Paris Agreement. My understanding is that they are committed to using up all the reserves and to continue to explore for new reserves. This makes a joke of the Paris targets. They have no hope of being achieved on this basis.

They are already experiencing the effects of climate change with droughts, floods, more violent storms, heavier rain and shrinking of ice caps. These are having disastrous consequences especially for the world's poorest. We have also experienced that effect with disastrous flooding in this country. If we go beyond a 2° rise in world temperature and towards 3°, large parts of the planet will become uninhabitable.

Analysis by two leading environmental researchers revealed in 2015 that the Irish Strategic Investment Fund maintains a portfolio of shares in oil, coal and fracking companies, the bulk of them in North America. The highest profile one is TransCanada, the company behind the controversial Keystone XL project, which aims to bring oil extracted from Canada's vast reserves of tar sands to US refineries on the Gulf coast. President Barack Obama invoked his presidential veto to block the project on environmental grounds but Republicans have vowed to continue campaigning for it and they will now be coming into power in the US.

The fund also holds shares in Peabody Energy, the world's largest privately owned coal company, which recently described climate change as a "non-existent harm based on flawed assumptions and conjectures".

The audit of the fund's holdings was conducted by Joseph Curtin, a climate expert with the Institute of International and European Affairs and University College Cork, and Paul Deane from UCC's Environmental Research Institute. It values the fund's fossil fuel assets at €72 million, based on 2014 market values. The assessment comes as a growing number of funds, including those held by the Norwegian Government, the Guardian newspaper and Stanford University, are pledging to shed their holdings in dirty industries on foot of the UN-backed fossil fuel divestment campaign.

While the ISIF's holdings in this area represent a modest portion of its total €7.4 billion portfolio, it has made some big returns from investing in fossil fuel firms, most notably TransCanada, whose stock has rocketed by 500% from 2000 to 2014. In their analysis, published on the IIEA website, the authors question whether these holdings are consistent with the Government's aim of moving Ireland to a low-carbon economy by 2050.

The provisions in the Bill represent a small but significant measure and send out a strong signal. Starting with a few American colleges in 2011 a massive campaign has grown to divest away from fossil fuel investment. I believe this is reflected here today with the majority in the Dáil supporting Deputy Pringle's Bill. I hope we can move on and effect real changes in how ISIF makes its investments. I fully support the Bill and I thank Deputy Pringle for introducing it.

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