Ivana Bacik (Independent)

I am delighted to welcome the Minister. I should first apologise to my Seanad colleagues for the clogging of their e-mail in-boxes with approximately 20,000 e-mails that have been sent by supporters of Friends of the Earth, the NGO with which I worked on this Bill, and supporters of other NGOs, seeking their support for the Bill. Some supporters are also present for the debate in the Seanad tonight and I welcome their support.

I have great pleasure in presenting this Bill to the House. Climate change is, without doubt, the biggest challenge facing humanity in the 21st century. There is no longer any doubt that it is happening and that man-made greenhouse gas emissions are its main cause. Everybody is in favour of doing something about it but the question is, what can be done? I have been working for some time with Friends of the Earth Ireland — I am a member of its board — to ensure practical steps are taken towards addressing this enormous challenge. A vital practical step is to ensure a strong legal framework to underpin the Government's stated commitment to tackling climate change.

Climate change has been the main priority for Friends of the Earth since the organisation was launched in Ireland in 2004. Last April, I and my colleagues drafted this Bill and since then, supported by other environmental and development NGOs, we have launched an Act for Climate campaign which seeks support for the principle that a law should be passed placing an enforceable duty on Government to make necessary cuts every year in greenhouse gas emissions. That is what this Bill seeks to do. It provides for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by setting both annual and long-term targets. It sets an ongoing statutory goal of reducing emissions by at least 3% per year from 2010 and a long-term goal of reducing emissions by at least 60% in 2050. These percentages relate to the baseline emissions figures measured in 1990 and are based on Ireland's commitments under the Kyoto Protocol and within the EU.

Support for the campaign on this Bill has been widespread and cross-party. Grassroots lobbying of the last Dáil by supporters persuaded a majority of Deputies to sign a pledge that Ireland must do its fair share to prevent runaway climate change. Yesterday, the Stop Climate Chaos coalition, a broad based coalition of Ireland's main environmental and development charities, including Trócaire, Christian Aid and others, strongly stated its support for the Bill. In theory, there is consensus about the need to tackle climate change. There are also international obligations on Ireland to act. Under the UN Kyoto Protocol, which was negotiated in 1997 and is now ratified by more than 160 countries, industrialised countries committed themselves to reducing collective greenhouse gas emissions by 5% between 1990 and 2010. Ireland's commitment under Kyoto was to limit the growth of greenhouse gas emissions to 13% above its 1990 levels between 2008 and 2012.

The EU has undertaken further commitments, agreeing to reduce emissions by 20% by 2020, compared to 1990 levels, and is also committed to increasing the reduction to 30% in the context of comprehensive post-Kyoto agreements which are due to be discussed in Bali in December. These are ambitious targets and Ireland willingly signed up to them. The problem is that Ireland is nowhere near meeting any of the targets. Ireland is at present the fifth most climate polluting country per person in the OECD. The Environmental Protection Agency has calculated that in 2005, the last year for which it had detailed figures, our greenhouse gas emissions were already at 65.95 million tonnes, that is, 25% above the 1990 baseline figure. This makes it difficult, even for somebody as mathematically challenged as me, to see how we can reduce that figure to 13% above the baseline 1990 figure by 2012.

The EPA also noted that the most significant and sustained increase in emissions, measuring 160% between 1990 and 2005, was in the transport sector, due largely to increased road transportation. However, previous Governments continued to build roads and car ownership has increased, with a worrying trend towards purchases of gas guzzling SUVs at the expense of smaller, more fuel efficient and less polluting cars. Last April, in recognition of the problems faced in meeting the Kyoto targets, the outgoing Government published a detailed national climate change strategy to ensure compliance. There are many shortcomings with this strategy and it appears to be inadequate, relying largely on emissions trading schemes.

In fairness, the new Government has adopted a more radical strategy, committing itself to a reduction of 3% per year up to 2012, to a cross-party approach to emissions targets and mandating the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to publish an annual report setting out progress on meeting climate change targets. There is also a commitment to an outline carbon budget to be presented each year. This is in the programme for Government, which I welcome. In addition, the Minister, Deputy Gormley, made a speech last week reinforcing and emphasising the determination of the Government to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The changed political climate is welcome.

This Bill is based upon a prevailing consensus and nothing in the Bill is not already Government policy. In some ways, the Bill is less radical than the commitments in the programme for Government, which is ironic given that the Bill was drafted last April. The Bill does not require 3% cuts in emissions from 2008, as Government policy does, but allows for a lead-in period between now and 2010 to set in place the strategies necessary to ensure ongoing reductions. There is nothing in the Bill with which the Minister, Deputy Gormley, and his colleagues in Government should be able to disagree in principle. It represents consensus about climate change.

It might be argued that legislation is unnecessary, that political commitments are sufficient and that what is required is national strategies, such as those launched in November 2000 and last April. My reply is that legislation is essential; the issue is far too important to leave to political commitments. We must ensure this and future Governments will be bound to follow emissions reduction strategies. That is probably the most important reason for enacting legislation, rather than leaving it to political promises.

Legislation is the best way to express all-party agreement. We know it is the best way to ensure we fulfil our international obligations under Kyoto and we know from unfortunate experience in other fields that political promises and national strategies are simply not enough in practice. Despite our commitments under Kyoto and previous national strategies, we have seen rises in our greenhouse gas emissions.

We saw political promises being broken by successive Governments on issues such as hospital waiting lists, which the previous Government promised to abolish and which we may consider rather bitterly now, school class size reductions and public transport initiatives. All of these were political promises and commitments made but not enshrined in legislation. All too often these promises are reduced to noble aspirations rather than to binding commitments. In this case, we cannot afford to let climate change and the urgent need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions fall into the same trap of noble aspiration.

The Minister knows of the international awareness that political promises on climate change should be enshrined in a legal framework to give them teeth. Notably, California — a large economy — introduced into law a commitment of 80% reduction by 2050 with an interim target set for 2020. Other similar bills are proposed in the US Senate, including one co-sponsored by John McCain and Barack Obama. This shows the growing awareness across parties on the need for action on this issue, including in such polarised opposites as Republicans and Democrats in the US. Closer to home, the UK Government recently published a very comprehensive climate change bill. Senators who have seen it are aware it commits to five-year targets and carbon budgets. This recognises the need for legislation.

We know that Governments, caught in the five-year election cycle, have difficulties with long-term targets. We know we do not have a shortage of good ideas and proposals on how to reduce carbon emissions. Some of these are in the latest Government strategy and others were in the previous strategy. We need a guarantee that these strategies and others will be implemented and that commitments will be met. A law requiring year-by-year reductions as well as setting long-term targets will drive innovation in reducing emissions in public policy, private enterprise and all our personal behaviour.

A law is the best way to ensure we have a Government commitment across the Cabinet and that this is not a matter merely seen as the preserve of the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. For all these reasons, I introduce this Bill to the House and I will briefly outline what it contains. It provides for definitions of greenhouse gas emissions and the reduction of those emissions by setting annual and long-term targets. It places duties on the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to ensure the achievement of these targets, it obliges the Minister to provide annual reports to both Houses of the Oireachtas and it specifies actions to be taken if targets are not met giving power to the Oireachtas to devise strategies to ensure they will be met. The Bill creates a new expert commission on climate change to oversee its provisions and to advise and assist the Minister.

The Climate Protection Bill provides us with an opportunity to put Ireland in the lead among other nations in tackling climate change. The adoption of this Bill will send a clear signal that Ireland is fully committed to doing its share to prevent climate chaos.