Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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100. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he has considered the policy implications of the Economic and Social Research Institute assessment of the embodied emissions in Irish imports; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19322/23]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I thank my constituency colleague in the Chair for her generosity.

This question refers to an interesting report, which I am sure the Minister has seen, from the Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI. The authors showed that if we measured our consumption, including the vehicles we buy and the goods we import for buildings, our carbon footprint would be 75% higher than it is on the activity measure that is in conformity with Paris. I am interested to hear the Minister's view on the policy implications of this, particularly in areas like construction, travel and so on.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I note the ESRI’s assessment of the embodied emissions in Irish imports and welcome the insight it provides. While Ireland’s climate policy primarily focuses on reducing production-based emissions in line with national greenhouse gas inventories, it also considers the wider impacts of climate policy, including on consumption-based emissions. The 2023 climate action plan includes policies in cross-cutting and circular economy chapters, which will shape public procurement and the use of resources in our economy. Other policies which aim to target production-based emissions can also indirectly affect our carbon footprint, including for example, policies designed to stimulate demand for alternative construction materials with lower levels of embodied carbon.

A well-established circular economy provides more access to better-designed products, which can be shared, reused, repaired and remade, thereby minimising the use of resources. This provides opportunities for local jobs. It improves our economy, our environment and our health. The Circular Economy and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2022 is a key step in Ireland’s transition to a circular economy. It provides a robust statutory framework for moving from a focus on managing waste to a focus on adapting patterns of production and consumption.

On 18 April 2023, the European Parliament adopted the carbon border adjustment mechanism, CBAM, which will apply carbon pricing to imports of certain goods into the EU to mirror the our emissions trading scheme, ETS, system. In addition to reducing carbon leakage and enabling a reduction in the free allocation of the ETS, the policy will incentivise emissions reductions in third countries. This will support Irish and EU industries facing carbon pricing and ensure that emissions are not simply reallocated to third countries. The ESRI's research is very important and backs up the points made by Deputy Bruton.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I invite the Minister to consider giving the Minister of State, Deputy Ossian Smyth, a more prominent role in respect of promoting this sort of thinking within the climate plan. For example, the choice between a sports utility vehicle, SUV, which has 35 tonnes of embodied carbon, and a standard car, which has only 10 tonnes, can have a huge impact in the global context. Does the Minister agree that Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, which has responsibility for much of our planning regulations, is dragging its feet on introducing new approaches that would see embodied carbon being more central to the way we design our buildings? There is huge scope here for making an impact and creating a better public understanding of the issues.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I absolutely commit to making sure that the Minister of State, Deputy Smyth, expands and deepens his role in the delivery of the circular economy.

I will give a specific example of this in reality. It is subject to some controversy in the sense that I made a public comment in regard to Dublin Port last week. However, currently 35 million tonnes of material will be coming in and out of the port this year. Its expectation is that in the future we will move towards 77 million tonnes of imported and exported goods. The question I have on that is what we are going to be consuming at twice the current level in 18 years’ time. How could that possibly be in line with both European and Irish national ambition in regard to reducing the volume of materials we are using while still maintaining our wealth and prosperity as a people? I believe it is an alternative approach which sees a reduced volume of goods moving but increased provision of real welfare and wealth to our people. That is where smart modern economies are going. I use that as an example of a metric that we need to reconsider, the traditional model of ever-onward growth and consumption of materials as a measure of our success and to reduce using materials for greater prosperity for our people.