Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)

I thank the joint Oireachtas committee for putting down this motion and acknowledge its valuable contribution to the ongoing national debate on climate change.

The committee's second report on climate change law is timely and welcome. I appreciate the considerable amount of work that went into producing the report and the importance of having a cross-party perspective to influence and inform the development of future policy and legislation.

The all-party basis on which the report been drawn up is particularly valuable in encouraging and building public support for strong climate change legislation. The urgency of mobilising an effective global response to climate change demands consensus at all levels, from local level to wider international level. As Members know, myself and Minister Gormley have continually emphasised the importance of cross-party agreement on the climate change agenda.

Primary legislation is a hugely significant step in terms of underpinning our commitment and determination and cross-party consensus on key elements of the legislation will serve to reinforce that signal for stakeholders and observers. In seeking to keep a sharp focus on the climate change in Ireland, we must aim to keep it above political point-scoring and tactics and I am happy to respond to the motion on that basis.

The global economic crisis has shaken the foundations of the world as we have known it. Things we have taken for granted in the past are now being called into question in a fundamental way. In the place of what we now know was over-confidence about our future is a clear realisation that we face a number of unprecedented challenges which will have a major bearing on our well-being, our prosperity and our responsibility to future generations. At the top of the list is climate change where the challenge is heightened by the failure to reach agreement on a new climate treaty at the UN climate conference in Copenhagen last December.

At a recent lecture at Harvard University, Connie Hedegaard, the European Commissioner for Climate Action, issued a clear reminder of the massive human, economic and environmental costs the world faces from climate change. Referring to the deadly floods in central Europe, floods and mudslides in Mexico and China, the record-breaking heat wave in Russia and then the catastrophic monsoon flooding in Pakistan, the Commissioner expressed a view, which I share, that these extreme weather events either reflect climate change at work today or are a foretaste of it.

Jumping out at us from the economic and environmental circumstances in which we find ourselves are some very clear messages. Principal among these is the finite and incredibly fragile nature of our planet's resources. Failure to refocus and reinvent ourselves in response to these messages is simply not an option.

The extent to which the economic crisis is dominating our attention inevitably means that it would be all too easy to overlook or defer other priorities. Climate change is the greatest threat we face and urgent and decisive action is required if we are to avert its worst impacts. We cannot afford to overlook or defer our response to climate change.

What is the way forward? The answer lies in global transition - a significant global step change, setting the world on a new low carbon path that will prove economically and environmentally sustainable in the long-term. That is the real challenge on the international agenda and the context in which we must develop our own response to climate change.

Therefore, in dealing with the economic downturn, we must not fail to look beyond it. If global transition is inevitable, and I believe it is inevitable, we must plan now to ensure that our return to economic growth is environmentally sustainable in terms of carbon intensity, resource efficiency and climate resilience.

That is the outlook of a responsible and successful society and is the approach the majority of Irish people will support. The challenge for this Government and for governments everywhere is to achieve the balance necessary to drive our economies forward, protecting jobs while fostering innovation, all the while moving on a new low carbon trajectory.

The Climate Change Bill, which the Government will bring forward shortly, will provide the foundations for transition to a low-carbon, resource-efficient, environmentally sustainable and climate resilient society. This approach is consistent with the direction in which EU policy is expected to develop under the 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth and the anticipated EU roadmap for 2050 which the European Commission is expected to bring forward early next year. Equally important is the fact that effective transition is consistent with and complementary to our own pursuit of world leader status for Ireland in the green tech sector.

Since taking office, my colleague, the Minister, Deputy John Gormley, has given substantial time to the preparation of the heads of the Bill. Finalising the outline of the Bill has taken somewhat longer than expected but it is a matter of the utmost importance that we get the structure and proposed provisions right. Our approach must be balanced yet effective; ambitious yet realistic. In finalising the outline of the Bill, we will have regard to the joint committee's report and I look forward to engaging with the committee on the proposed provisions when details of the Bill are published shortly.

The Green Party in Government is determined to ensure the legislation enacted will not just enshrine the policies and principles to reflect the core national objective of playing a real and progressive role in the global fight against climate change but will also act as a driver towards achieving a more sustainable future across all sectors of society in Ireland. In many respects the heads of the Bill we are developing have similar provisions to those contained in the report prepared by the Oireachtas joint committee. Both approaches provide for a climate change strategy, a national adaptation plan and the setting of key emission reduction targets. However, while carbon accounting is a prominent feature of the joint committee's approach, transition underpinned by integration will be the underlying principle of the Bill the Government is developing.

I want to make it clear that I am not dismissing the importance of targets. They are important indicators of our progress; we cannot lose sight of the big picture - the long-term vision of where we want to be. It is a significant and necessary change in our approach to climate change policy. Transition is so fundamental that we need a clear and strong focus on the ultimate objective - a future that is economically and environmentally sustainable - if we are to map out a progressive and successful journey. Transition is not a political option or a politically motivated philosophy; it is a pragmatic and positive approach to ensuring the safety of our planet and the well-being of its peoples.

It is important also that we match the legislation with real efforts in other complementary legislation and regulation. I am proud that during the past three and a half years the Government has taken significant strides in the direction towards achieving a low carbon economy. We brought in a radical step-change in the national building regulations, which provided for a 40% reduction in energy use in the building sector in all new build developments. That took place within six months of the Green Party forming part of this Government. We are set to bring about another 60% improvement in energy performance based on levels in 2005 by the end of this year and we look forward to the end of 2013 by which time the regulations introduced will have provided for zero carbon housing. That is another radical step. It is a dramatic step-change from the kind of construction that took place during the Celtic tiger years.

I know from my experience as an architect and a town planner that we can build zero carbon housing today and many firms and individuals are doing it. I do not see any reason we cannot enshrine that in law. That is a practical example of what can be done.

Yesterday I, together with the Railway Procurement Agency and representatives of the Luas contractors, launched a carbon calculator. It will enable people taking light rail journeys to check the low carbon nature of them. The carbon cost of a journey by light rail is approximately one fifth of what it would be to travel by car. Things like that make a difference. I appreciate that the Luas is a Dublin phenomenon but we have to ensure that the public transport network nationwide is integrated and that all players can contribute to making available low carbon transport regardless of where one lives in the State.

The legislative proposal under development should go beyond ensuring compliance with our EU and wider international commitments. In providing a legislative underpinning for proactive transition, it will present the Irish people as an informed and progressive society pursuing a smart economy in the truest sense of the term - an economy that is highly productive, competitive, resource efficient and environmentally sustainable. It is my firm intention that our proposed Bill will be both innovative and inspirational, and I look forward to a frank and honest public debate involving all stakeholders when further details of the Bill's provisions are announced in due course.

I spoke about the construction sector and planning. We have brought in significant new planning legislation that will concentrate future development in the right places but significant progress has also been made in the energy supply sector. Ireland has reached a target of 15% for renewal energy this year, which is the second highest in Europe. That is a remarkable achievement and it has been reached in a few short years, yet our targets are much higher. We want to achieve a target of 40% for renewable energy by 2020. That can be done. Firms in this sector exist and Irish companies are developing the switch gear, turbines and the necessary work to reinforce the grid nationally to make this a reality. However, it cannot happen in isolation. We need to have strong interconnnectors to export Irish renewable electricity to the world but that structure is also in place with the work under way on the East-West interconnector. We are moving ahead in the energy sector, which is as important as the headline legislation.

On the wider international level the immediate priority for the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is to pursue a programme of work that will ensure real and substantive progress at the 16th Conference of the Parties, which will get under way next month in Mexico.

I would like to see a high level of ambition for the Cancun conference, a level much closer to the level of ambition that the EU set for the Copenhagen conference. However, I recognise the need for compromise in order to recover from the disappointment of the Copenhagen conference and to take a substantial step forward.

EU willingness to accept a stepwise approach and EU openness to considering a second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol reflect a genuine effort to understand and accommodate the positions of other parties. I was privileged to represent Ireland at the EU environment committee in Luxembourg a few weeks ago and I was heartened by the discussion at it; 27 member states agreed that we need a second Kyoto Protocol period as a fall-back if we do not get that global agreement in place by the end of the year, which seems unlikely. It is important that all parties make a genuine effort to understand and accommodate the EU position, particularly on the need for environmental ambition and integrity, consistent with achieving the ultimate objective of the framework convention on climate change.

I am determined that Ireland, within the EU, will continue to play its full part in the international climate change process and provide tangible leadership in preparing to meet the increased level of mitigation that a new global agreement will require. Progress on our own transition agenda will be key to our preparedness to contribute to the global mitigation effort and to the leadership for which the EU is acknowledged in the international process under the framework convention. The European Union can hold its head high. It had led internationally in efforts to tackle climate change.

I am also proud of the work that has been achieved in Ireland. My party produced the first climate change Bill put before the Oireachtas five years ago. We followed it up with a Civic Forum on Climate Change a year or two later. Since then we have seen good work conducted by Senator Bacik in publishing legislation. We have also seen some significant developments from the all-part Oireachtas Joint Committee on Climate Change and Energy Security. A framework for a Bill and the heads of the Bill have been prepared there. All that contributes to the efforts in the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to ensuring we have legislation that is robust, inclusive and that points the way forward in helping Ireland in its transition to being a low carbon economy.

The majority of the new jobs being created are in the low carbon sector. Real jobs are being created in the low carbon economy, whether in power energy, water services or in the new media industry and they are a huge boon to Ireland's economy at a very difficult time. I have no doubt that the future is a low carbon one and that the legislation the Government is preparing will make a significant contribution to setting Ireland on that path.

I thank the Members of the Seanad for allowing me to speak and I look forward to the discussion.