Lynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 5:

In page 8, between lines 3 and 4, to insert the following: " "climate justice" reflects the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change commitments on equity and "common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities” and requires that the decisions and actions taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to adapt to the effects of climate change should—

(a) support the people who are most affected by climate change but who have done the least to cause it and are the least equipped to adapt to its effects, and

(b) safeguard the human rights of the most vulnerable persons;".

Amendment No. 5 seeks to insert a definition of "climate justice" into the Bill. This definition is the one Senators from all Opposition groups sought to insert into the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2021 last summer. The reason we are seeking to insert this definition into the Bill comes from a core issue with it, which is that it is too narrowly focused on Ireland and the Irish economy as existing in isolation from the rest of the world, as if not impacting on the rest of the world. Economic activity in wealthy countries such as Ireland is worsening the climate crisis for those in the global south. We see famine in the Horn of Africa at present, we see agricultural land across the African continent becoming unusable and we see the worsening climate emergency causing death and destruction for those who have done the least to cause it.

This amendment defines climate justice as reflecting the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change commitments on equity and "common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities" and requiring that the decisions and actions taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to adapt to the effects of climate change should support the people who are most affected by climate change but who have done the least to cause it and are the least equipped to adapt to its effects, and safeguard the human rights of the most vulnerable persons. The reason we have proposed this definition is because we have subsequent amendments which seek to incorporate these principles into the circular economy strategy, the programme and the wider provisions of this Bill. This is necessary because we see examples of how economic activity in this country is negatively affecting people and the environment in the global south, such as with fast fashion for which I will be tabling amendments on Report Stage.

Amendment No. 6 seeks to insert a definition of "just transition" into the legislation. It proposed to define just transition as a transition that ensures the economic, environmental and social consequences of the ecological transformation of economies and societies are managed in ways that maximise opportunities of decent work for all, reduce inequalities, promote social justice, and support industries, workers and communities negatively affected in accordance with nationally defined priorities and based on effective social dialogue. This relates to later amendments on planned obsolescence and on precious metals. We need to look at obsolescence in electronics and I will be tabling amendments in respect of this on Report Stage. It also relates to the environmental levy. I have concerns that we are only looking at consumption and not production. I will be returning to these matters on Report Stage.

This amendment is necessary to ensure that this legislation operates in a way which is equitable, which seeks to reduce poverty and which is based on social justice. When we are talking about transforming our economy and creating a circular economy, the measures that we take cannot be based solely on action at the point of consumption. There are deep inequalities in our society and we need to make sure that our ideas about creating a circular economy are not based solely on the idea of changing consumer choices.

Amendment No. 15 seeks to insert a provision that the proposed circular economy fund shall consist of such accounts in such financial institutions as the Minister may determine, and that those financial institutions must be operating within the State.

Amendment No. 16 and most of the next set of amendments seek to add to the things which the circular economy fund might be used for. Amendment No. 16 seeks to add that it may be used to assist the establishment, the equipping and, where appropriate, the operation of facilities which provide repair services. The right to repair is a significant issue and something which is sorely lacking from this legislation. In their pre-legislative scrutiny report on this legislation, the Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action recommended that an examination should be conducted into the potential measures for addressing the challenge of planned obsolescence, particularly in relation to electronics. This should include a broad examination of international examples and potential measures could include a right to repair. In its submission to the committee, Voice Ireland recommended explicitly that a right to repair should be regulated for. This issue relates to just transition. There are examples from across the country of community repair facilities, such as repair cafés and men's sheds. This should be seen as a key part of where we can create decent work in a circular economy and reduce waste and the need for extraction for goods, particularly electronic goods. It also is a way to counter planned obsolescence which I have amendments on later.

Amendment No. 17 is a minor amendment to subsection (9) which seeks to insert the word "public" before "research" in the provision that the Minister may pay moneys out of the fund to assist, support or promote research and development with respect to any aspect of waste management or the circular economy. For the purpose of clarity, I will discuss amendments Nos. 17 and 19 together as they are deeply related. Amendment No. 19 seeks to add a provision that money can be paid out of the fund to assist the establishment of public-public partnerships for research and development in the area of the circular economy and waste management. Both of these amendments relate to a much wider issue affecting research in Ireland. That is the fact that we are seeing a significant emphasis on research to develop a product to be marketed but nowhere near the same emphasis on frontier of blue-skies research and research for the public good.

Amendment No. 18 adds the provision that in dispensing money from the circular economy fund, the Minister can dispense funds to assist, support or promote initiatives to restore, conserve and renovate buildings in order to reduce embodied emissions resulting from demolition. This is a significant issue. While I note construction is included in the sectors to which the circular economy strategy will apply, there should be a mechanism for the fund to support initiatives to restore, conserve and renovate buildings. My colleague, Senator Higgins, is a member of the Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action which over recent months has had a series of hearings on the renovation wave across Europe and different sustainable approaches to building. What comes across is that the most sustainable building is the one that already exists, that is renovated and that maybe sometimes is extended or changed.

Amendment No. 20 seeks to add a new provision that the Minister can dispense funds from the circular economy fund to assist, support or promote actions or initiatives undertaken by international organisations or non-governmental organisations to further climate justice. I have already discussed the broader need for climate justice to be reflected in this Bill but this amendment is something tangible we could do to further climate justice. There are international organisations and NGOs which are advocating strongly for climate justice and we need to support them in their advocacy in relation to the circular economy and promoting more equitable and sustainable economic policies.

Amendment No. 21 seeks to add a new provision that the Minister can dispense funds from the circular economy fund to assist, support or promote actions undertaken by indigenous community groups internationally to protect the environment or to curb or oppose the extraction or exploitation of natural resources. We have seen across the world resistance to that dispossession and to the extraction and exploitation of land and natural resources, for example, the resistance of indigenous communities in North America at Standing Rock, which the Dakota Access Pipeline passes through.Another is the resistance of the indigenous communities to a pipeline being built through territory of the Wet'suwet'en First Nation in Canada. There are numerous other examples of land-grabbing and resistance across America and Africa but the core point is we should be supporting those who seek to stop extraction at its source. They often face great violence while trying to do so. This comes back to the core point of broadening the concept of the circular economy to the global dimension, which the committee recommended in its pre-legislative scrutiny report. We cannot simply look at consumption. We need to support those who resist exploitation of the natural resources used in products we are seeking to regulate.

Amendment No. 22 is again about transparency. I am concerned at the use of the phrase "other persons outside the State". It is very broad and should be defined more specifically. I am not going to press the amendment but perhaps the Minister of State might bring his own amendment or by regulation prescribe descriptions of persons who can avail of funding, just as a safeguard.

Amendment No. 23 is another amendment seeking to improve transparency and accountability in the legislation. It seeks to add that when a committee is established under section 8(14) to advise the Minister with respect to the performance by him or her of his or her functions under section 8(9) or section 8(12) that where a member of a committee established under section 8(14) has a material interest in a matter under consideration by the committee, he or she must declare that interest and subsequently recuse himself or herself from deliberations.

Amendments that effectively have the same effect as this group have been accepted with respect to both the Land Development Agency Act and the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act. This will improve transparency and accountability and ensure people who have financial or other interests in something under the consideration of a committee are not involved in the decision on what advice to give the Minister or in directly advising the Minister. I urge the Minister of State to accept this amendment.

As a final point on the topic of just transition, we know particular communities feel the impact of climate change more severely than others. They pay a higher price in responding to the climate crisis. We cannot further compound inequality and disadvantage. Any transition must be just and fair. If we consider the strategies to respond to the climate crisis contained within this Bill and related to these amendments, some very evidently compound existing inequality and are in conflict with the principles of a just transition. Take, for example, the provisions regarding the installation of CCTV schemes in local authority areas or the use of personal recording devices by authorised officers to deter, prevent, detect and prosecute offences under the Bill. Particular areas and communities are surveilled more frequently and more intensely than others and that is likely to be compounded by the provisions within this Bill on CCTV and surveillance without adequate safeguarding. A just transition is based on a social dialogue. Instead of looking at a model of policing and surveillance, the burden of which will be felt more severely by particular communities, we must ensure we respond to the climate crisis through social dialogue and just and equitable transition. We will get to some of those later on.