Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Taoiseach for outlining the key conclusions from April's European Council meeting. I welcome the European Council's discussion of the joint European roadmap towards the lifting of Covid-19 containment measures. I also welcome the endorsement by the European Council of the Eurogroup's agreement on safety nets for workers, businesses and sovereigns.

The maintenance of workers' incomes, either through wage subsidy schemes to keep jobs or through direct financial assistance, such as the pandemic payment in Ireland, is a key response responsibility of all governments. It is also important to note that the EU has recognised the scale of the crisis that the Covid-19 pandemic poses across the Union by recognising that the conditions for the use of the general escape clause of the EU's fiscal framework, where there is a severe economic downturn in the eurozone or across the Union as a whole, has been met. That step, combined with the novel use of the EU budget via the coronavirus response investment initiative and the actions of the European Central Bank to support liquidity and financing conditions, demonstrate the ability of the EU to react jointly and with a sense of solidarity. We regret, however, that we did not see that same sense of solidarity expressed by some member states, especially with respect to novel ways in which the EU could support member states to borrow as they emerge from the crisis.

I would like to refer in particular the joint roadmap for recovery that was presented at the European Council meeting. This is described as a comprehensive recovery plan and an unprecedented investment that will help the EU to relaunch and transform its economies. Central to this joint roadmap for recovery is the European green deal. Over the past two weeks in Ireland, there has been extensive discussion of how we can meet the target of cutting carbon emissions by at least an average of 7% per annum between now and 2030. A lot of the coverage is focused on the financial cost of the policies needed to achieve this. I would like to take this opportunity to discuss how at EU level the recovery from the economic shock created by the coronavirus is linked to the green European deal, how the policy changes we are implementing will be supported by EU-wide policy approaches, and in particular how major funding is being provided at EU level to finance these policies.

Under EU law currently, the Union is committed to a 40% cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. However, as part of the EU's move to achieve the target set out in the Paris Agreement, it plans to increase its 2030 commitments to a cut of between 50% and 55%.

This change is being brought forward as part of a new EU climate law which the Commission has recently proposed. Once this law is passed, it will be binding on all EU member states, including Ireland. A reduction of at least an average of 7% per annum in Ireland will enable us to meet this target. It is important to remember that this target is not Ireland going alone. It is part of a collective EU response to the decision by all 27 member states, including Ireland, to sign up to the Paris Agreement and it will be legally binding on Ireland and all the member states within the year.

Obviously, setting a target of at least 7% average annual emissions reductions is not enough on its own. Success will only be achieved through a range of policy measures that deliver reductions in each part of the economy. As part of the European green deal, the EU will bring forward specific policies in 2020 and 2021 to support the achievement of its new emissions reduction targets. New CO2 emissions standards for vehicles, including vans and trucks, are currently being set. Later this year, there will be a funding call to support the development of public recharging and refuelling points as part of alternative fuel infrastructure. There will be a new strategy on offshore wind, something that will help support Ireland as we seek to develop this hugely underused resource which could deliver us 5 GW per year of clean and cheap energy by 2025. A new circular economy action plan will be developed. This will include a sustainable products initiative and a particular focus on resourcing sectors such as textiles, construction, electronics and plastics. Ireland and the EU can be at the forefront of designing products where waste is minimised.

Changes of this scale have a cost, but the EU is providing a huge amount of funding to enable these changes to be financed. Central to the European green deal is the European green deal investment plan, which proposes to mobilise at least €1 trillion in sustainable investment over the next decade. Some €500 billion is to be provided by the EU budget for climate and environmental spending between 2021 and 2030. This will trigger additional national co-financing of €114 billion over this timeframe on climate and environmental projects. The InvestEU fund will leverage approximately €280 billion for climate and environmentally friendly related investments by providing an EU budget guarantee to reduce risk. The innovation and modernisation funds, which are financed through the revenues from the auctioning of carbon allowances under the emissions trading scheme, will provide at least €25 billion for the EU transition towards climate neutrality. Beyond the EU budget, other EU funding bodies are changing their mandates to better reflect the need for climate action. The European Investment Bank has launched its new energy lending policy which aims to end financing for fossil fuel energy projects by the end of 2021. Its investment priorities are now shifting to clean energy innovation, energy efficiency projects and renewables.

One of the principles of the European green deal is that no person and no place is left behind. The Green Party has always advocated for the need for a just transition whereby the rights of workers and communities who are currently dependent on fossil fuel industries are provided for in the move to more sustainable energy production through investment, retraining and diversification of local economies. This is a major issue across the EU as communities in parts of Poland, Germany and France are deeply dependent on coal mining. In Ireland, the regions associated with peat cutting, particularly in the midlands, must be protected. To facilitate this, a just transition mechanism is being put in place. The aim of this funding mechanism is to promote and develop new skills among workers and to support the growth of businesses. It is expected that between the fund and member states' commitments, between €30 billion and €50 billion will be available. This fund will target fossil fuels, including peat, and greenhouse gas intensive industries.

The scale of the investment I have set out, €1 trillion over ten years, will not only help create jobs in Ireland but will also spur new industries. There will be a great benefit for those countries and regions that put in place the proposals that can seek EU funding, co-funding or support from the European Investment Bank. A number of European governments, particularly in the east, have taken the direction of opposing climate action and refusing to move their economies in a more sustainable direction. Those countries will lose out on the potential to get this massive investment.

Ireland must not do this. It must put in place the national policies that connect with these EU policies so we can benefit from the investment, develop new industries around renewables and create new jobs all over the country, particularly in those communities in transition.

Every action taken by any government across the planet for the foreseeable future will be coloured by the Covid-19 crisis. Earlier this week, a group of well-known economists, including Professors Joseph Stiglitz and Nicholas Stern, published a paper in which they examined whether the recovery packages being prepared to follow the Covid-19 crisis will be beneficial to climate policies I have spoken about or run contrary to them. Their research finds that recovery packages that seek synergies between climate and economic goals have better prospects for increasing national wealth and enhancing productive human, social, physical, intangible and natural capital. They also state that green fiscal recovery packages can act to decouple economic growth from greenhouse gas emissions and reduce existing welfare inequalities that will be exacerbated by the pandemic in the short term and by climate change in the long term.

As we hopefully begin to emerge from the worst of the coronavirus crisis, we can choose what kind of recovery this can be. What I hope to see, and what we will work for as a party, is a recovery that works for all, rooted in European solidarity, and that confronts the challenges we face. We are in a climate emergency. The costs of failing to meet the 7% target are catastrophic. That is the scientific consensus and it is on that basis that we should plan. It is also the clear direction of the EU. The European Council sees the European green deal as central to its joint roadmap for recovery. The policies I have outlined can help to create jobs and support a recovery from Covid-19 that is equitable and sustainable in every sense of the word.

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