Lynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

In 2017, The Guardianreleased its famous article referring to the fact that 100 companies are responsible for more than 70% of the world's emissions. Critics of the article pointed to the fact that if we did not buy what these companies were selling, they would go out of business or have to change their ways. The fact remains that it is simply not that easy. A just transition should be people and community centred. This means using the just transition to tackle inequality and raise standards of living through the delivery of climate solutions. Taking such an approach would allow us to wean ourselves off fossil fuels while developing climate action that is rooted in the community. We need to embrace a capabilities approach. This is an approach that has been championed by NGOs and think tanks such as the highly respected TASC. A capabilities approach ensures that actions for the benefit of the climate are developed on a foundation of equity. This means developing a structure that recognises that those who are disadvantaged must have their needs met first to ensure meaningful participation. This gives communal value to the concept of just transition. This is missing in the current draft of the Bill.

Just transition has its roots in the labour movement and unions. That the context is modern means adopting a definition that is embedded in communities, listens to the hopes and aspirations of people and responds accordingly. It means developing climate action that is tailored to the needs of local development while simultaneously tackling inequality and expanding the capabilities of people. The concept is rooted in social dialogue and participation by those who are affected by policy at every stage of the development process. If done correctly, the just transition should be a unifying process that is place based. Recently, the European Green Deal has called for just transition that is just, fair and inclusive. The call for a just transition in the European Green Deal, affirming similar calls in the Paris Agreement and Silesia Declaration, recognises that there are workers and communities at risk of being stranded as the world moves away from fossil-fuel-based development. Furthermore, it acknowledges that a poorly implemented transition, which neglects to care for those in positions of vulnerability, will not benefit from the enduring public support necessary to achieve the long-term goals of the Paris Agreement.

My first introduction to just transition or to trying to understand what it was led me to the conclusion that it was especially for communities in urban spaces where there is a massive amount of poverty. We must ask how we incentivise people to engage first of all. If they cannot engage initially in the wider climate change conversation, how can they be incentivised to engage daily? In 1990 or 1991, I won the Can Collector of the Year award. It was probably my first experience of a community-based approach to recycling. Did I engage in collecting because I really wanted to recycle? I did not. The aluminium factory in Tallaght village paid people enough pounds to incentivise them to bring their cans down to it in black bags. I remember that the only reason I decided to stop going around Tallaght with a black bag collecting cans to bring down to the aluminium factory was that my mam informed me there was a local man up the road who went around with trolleys every week collecting cans and that everybody left their cans out for him. He did not have much money and lived in considerable poverty. I remember realising at the time that I was just being greedy looking for a few extra pounds for my recycling and that recycling was very much a necessity for the man I referred to. It also incentivised him to engage in his community. That was 30 years ago. The man's community began to engage with him by ensuring they left out all their cans and aluminium for him to collect. This is a simplistic view but I felt what was happening was community led and driven. It provided an incentive and also allowed the man to meet his basic income needs. It would not have been enough in any case but the Senators catch my drift.

It seems like a bit of a leap but I was listening to Commissioner Harris speaking about the legalisation of drugs, including cannabis. I always wondered how this kind of subject fits in with the concepts of just transition and land use by farmers, and the question of our even beginning to legalise marijuana in this country, which would have a massive impact and create a whole industry that we could probably call nature-based solutions. I will shoehorn it into that category. A just transition that takes a grass-roots approach would be highly effective in our rural communities. These communities are highly reliant on nature and their environment so climate change would have a severe impact on them, and this would only get worse over time.

In Ireland, the agriculture sector has come under great pressure to adapt as it is currently the sector with the highest emissions profile. A key tenet of the thinking on the rural economy is that agricultural emissions are set to continue to rise as farmers need to continually produce more to make ends meet. This has led to farmers being unfairly pitted against environmentalists. However, the agriculture sector is suffering from serious inequality. A 2009 report by the Foundation for European Progressive Studies and TASC found that the agriculture sector was the most unequal in Ireland with regard to income. This is an income that is set to be increasingly further challenged by extreme weather events driven by climate change. This is a considerable stress for the agricultural community. This is not a challenge unique to Ireland. In France, farmers have incomes that are among the lowest in the country, and the suicide rate among farmers is 20% higher than it is in the general population. This is all connected because farmers are forced to produce increasing amounts to put food on the table and, by doing so, they are increasing the emissions they produce. In turn, climate disasters are more common.

The first step for a just transition is engaging with communities. This allows local leaders to gain an understanding of the needs and priorities of communities rather than making assumptions about these needs and legislating downwards. Research conducted by TASC found the key issues in rural areas are the integration of rural services, indebtedness, increasing overheads, and unsustainable workloads due to outward migration from rural communities. In rural communities, due to the challenges faced by farmers in making a profit, there has been outward migration. This leads to a loss of community culture and identity. It also leads to a lack of capacity as young people migrate to the cities. The agricultural community is central to the rural community and it supplies the local shopkeepers, butchers, bakers, creameries and so on. The need for a just transition for agriculture in Ireland is self-evident. The combination of the inequality in the sector, the reliance on an increase in emissions, intensive activity and the deep-seated concerns within the farming community over the potential negative ramifications of climate action all point towards a transition that could fail to take root if not carefully planned and defined. Plans should be designed with these inequalities in mind. Climate change that increases the cost of fuel in the absence of affordable alternatives will regressively impact upon those living in remote areas. Climate action that further diminishes the margin of return being made by farmers in precarious situations or that makes agricultural livelihoods less viable will meet strong resistance.

To date, agriculture has not been a central focus of just transition discourse and planning in Ireland. The focus of just transition activities has centred on the winding down of peat extraction. Ending the production of peat as a fuel has multiple environmental benefits, including reducing emissions, enabling peat bogs to act as efficient carbon stores, preventing negative impacts on water quality and lowering flood risk. It is essential that we draw insights from key stakeholders in rural regions in any just transition. This means taking a community-based approach and including support for collaborating and strategising with local stakeholders to drive economic and community development. Taking a grass-roots approach to the just transition will prevent sectors such as agriculture from being pitted against environmentalists by allowing those involved to access resources that would allow them to be paid a fair price for the food they produce.A living wage in our local communities would allow them to buy the products. Taking such an approach would allow us to transition away from an economy in which meats that already are being produced on the island are being imported and to offer farmers and rural communities, who make up 30% of the Irish population, a real input into the future of Ireland's climate approach. The just transition is a concept with its roots in workers, people and the labour movement. It is important to remember that when defining it to ensure everybody can participate and that just transition is for all.