Dan Boyle (Green Party)

I move:

That Seanad Eireann recognises the importance of the development of green technology for economic growth in Ireland.

The most recent edition of the respected publication Newsweek has a cover story entitled "The Green Rescue — Why Obama, Brown, Sarkozy and other world leaders are pushing towards a green solution to the economic crisis". The magazine is not known as the most radical of publications, yet it has obviously come to this conclusion of the basis of discussions that are happening in countries, governments and political parties across the world. The story is based on the idea that the international economic crisis exists because we have put too much faith in economic instruments that are no longer available to us as cheaply as they once were or in the quantities that once were there. The reality is that we now need to move towards a post-oil economy.

The price of oil has fallen significantly in recent months. This has been brought about owing to the inability of countries to pay for the resource. Because of that, there might be an expectation that we can go back to business as usual. It is also accepted that this dramatic fall from a world record price of €150 per barrel is very much a short-term phenomenon. The reality remains that there is only so much oil left in the world and demand for it will increase. This has resulted in increased research and development on what we should be doing to achieve alternatives that do not rely so much on fossil fuels. Renewable energy is the most obvious recipient of that research and development.

We in Ireland are still playing catch-up when it comes to making use of our own natural advantages in this area. Wind energy is the area that most appeals to the public imagination and knowledge of renewables. We are catching up fast and there are many wind farms and turbines being erected throughout the country. The Government has set a very ambitious target for renewables to reach 40% of total energy output in a short timeframe. The advantage of renewables is not just in reducing our energy bill but also in developing the potential of an industry through using its technology. As we are catching up in the area of wind energy, we are doing so with technology and equipment that has been developed and sold by countries that have made these decisions before us. The turbines we use are from Denmark and Germany. Had we started using this technology earlier than we did, there would have been great opportunities to develop the technology, produce the equipment and create jobs in Ireland.

There is another area of renewable energy in which work has already begun and in which Ireland has a competitive advantage. I am referring to wave energy, and the waves off the west coast of Ireland are most advantageous to this kind of development. There are several prototypes in place that began as models in laboratories and became quarter-size and then half-size turbines. They are generating a significant amount of electricity that would see the development of full-sized turbines on farms that will harvest wave energy in the future. The hope is that we would make these turbines in Ireland and sell the technology to other countries as well as creating more than enough energy to meet our own needs and sell it to other countries.

The German Government, in which the Green Party there participated for six years, developed its renewable sector to the extent that now there are 250,000 jobs in the German economy based on green technologies. A population equivalent suggests as many as 20,000 jobs could be produced in Ireland. It is a template we can and should follow. The United Nations Environment Programme produced a green report in September which predicted that a great number of jobs can be created worldwide from the green technology sector with an economic value of €284 billion. This is the crest of the wave that we in Ireland should be riding. We should be at the forefront in making the most of the potential that exists. How we do so will determine our success as a country in the future.

We can no longer rely on bubbles in our economy that will come and go depending on other economic circumstances, such as the reliance on property. There are some sectors in our economy that are, thankfully, still thriving and will continue to thrive, such as information and communications technology and the knowledge economy. However, we have lost many traditional manufacturing industries and we have learned in recent months that service industries are not as useful as we thought they may have been. Therefore, we need to develop a new sector that will fill that gap and will see us through crises in the future.

The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, on foot of the carbon budget contained in the Budget Statement, has announced the establishment of a high level action group to advise on the development of Ireland's green economy. The group is setting out an action plan for developing green enterprise in Ireland in the next four months. The Minister of State said that an overall Government approach is needed to drive the green economy. This is essential in the sense that we have depended on certain Departments, such as the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and the Department of Finance, to be that engine in the past. The whole point of a green technology approach to the economy, however, is that it will involve several other Departments, including not only the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, but also the Department of Education and Science. In that way, we can make the most of the potential that exists.

It is hoped the high level action group will identify the potential for enterprise development, as well as how education training might address skills deficits and the necessary research and development for the potential of Irish firms to bid for public procurement opportunities throughout the EU. The Government is currently examining how the public service can give greater consideration to environmental impacts when Government goods and services are procured. In addition, the Joint Committee on Climate Change and Energy Security is examining how the green economy might best be developed. We can achieve much on our own as a nation through the efforts of Government and the political system, but we also need to make use of international partnership arrangements. The European Commission estimates that the eco-industry in Europe already employs more people than either car manufacturing or chemicals — a statistic that may surprise many people. The EU Commission's monitoring and modelling initiative for renewable energy targets shows that net employment growth in the EU in green technology jobs across all 27 member states is projected to increase to just under 1 million by 2010 and will rise to 1.5 million by 2015.

Countries with similar economies and populations to ours have also been addressing these issues. The Scottish Parliament has produced useful reports, which Members may wish to consult, on how this potential can be developed. The European wind energy association reports that in Spain — not a country that people will identify as being particularly windy — some 35,000 people are employed in the wind energy industry. The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation reports that organic farming requires additional manpower compared to conventional high-input systems. Studies of organic farms in Ireland and the UK show that such farms employ up to 1.5 times the number of workers found on conventional farms.

The report of the UN environmental programme, Green Jobs, contained a number of key findings. The obvious one is that the emerging green economy could create tens of millions of new green jobs. The global market for environmental products and services is projected to double from just over €1.4 billion at present to €2.8 billion by 2020. In Germany, environmental technology will grow fourfold to 16% of industrial output by 2030, with employment in the sector surpassing that of Germany's big machine tool and automotive industries, which are significant players in that economy.

Sectors that will be particularly important, according to the UN's environmental programme, include energy supply, renewable energy, buildings and conservation, transportation, basic industries, agriculture and forestry. In the United States, clean technologies already comprise the third largest sector for venture capital after information and biotechnology. It is very much the platform of president-elect Obama to increase this further.

Green venture capital in China has more than doubled to 19% of total investment in recent years. Some 2.3 million people have found new jobs in the renewables sector alone and the potential for such job growth is huge. Employment in alternative energies may rise to 2.1 million in wind and 6.3 million worldwide in solar power by 2030. Renewable energy generates more jobs and employment in fossil fuels. Projected investments of $630 billion by 2030 would translate into 20 million additional jobs in the renewable energy sector. In agriculture, some 12 million jobs could be created in biomass for energy and related industries. In a country like Venezuela, an ethanol blend of 10% in fuels might provide 1 million jobs in the sugar cane sector by 2012. If we were to translate that to Ireland, the potential of our now extinct sugar industry could do something similar.

A worldwide transition to energy-efficient buildings would create millions of jobs, as well as greening existing employment for many of the estimated 111,000 people working in the construction sector. Investment in energy efficiency in buildings could generate 2 million to 3.5 million green jobs in Europe and the United States alone. Considering the difficulties that have arisen in recycling in China, we should ask why we are exporting recyclable materials there. If such materials were to be retained in the economy under a waste management scheme they would provide significant employment here.

The purpose of this debate is to allow everyone to contribute positively towards recognising the reality of green technology and how it is being adopted throughout the world. Ireland needs to be at the forefront of matching the potential that exists in this area.