Taoiseach: We must act fast to save planet
ALL aspects of life will be impacted by climate change ‘with increasingly devastating consequences’ unless action is taken, the Taoiseach has said.
Speaking on the same day former president Mary Robinson issued an urgent plea, Micheál Martin agreed with the assessment of UN secretary general António Guterres that a new UN climate report is a ‘code red for humanity’.
Mr Martin added: ‘For the first time, the IPCC [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] have broken these impacts down to a regional level, showing that climate change will affect us all.
‘Our ways of life – urban, coastal and rural – will all be impacted by climate change, with increasingly devastating consequences for lives, livelihoods and nature unless immediate action is taken.’ The Taoiseach said it would still be possible to keep the world temperature rises below two degrees, but only with a concentrated international effort.
Ms Robinson said it was time for Ireland to set out its ‘actual plan’ to tackle climate change.
The landmark UN report on the catastrophic impact of global warming, published on Monday, said the world will reach or exceed temperature rises of 1.5C – a limit countries have pledged to try to keep to in order to avoid the most devastating climatic disasters – over the next two decades.
Ms Robinson said yesterday that this country is no longer a ‘laggard’ when it comes to climate change, but there is still plenty of work to be done.
‘Ireland has gone from being a laggard,’ she said. ‘But now we need to see the actual plan, the steps, and that does need not just the Government’s leadership but Government and opposition leadership. It needs every county and city to be part of this.’
Echoing this sentiment, Mr Martin also called on Irish citizens to step up and do their part. ‘Government on its own cannot make the difference required,’ he said. ‘In our Republic, every citizen, industry and community must embrace this challenge and make the decisions necessary for positive change.
‘I am absolutely confident that we understand the scale of what needs to be done and that we are equal to the task.’
The Taoiseach added: ‘Climatic changes are no longer assigned to some distant future. The devastating floods across Europe this summer, raging wildfires across the Mediterranean and recordbreaking heatwaves in the US and Canada are testament to this.’
Mr Martin said this year’s UN climate change conference, COP26, will be vital in facing this challenge. Earlier, Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe said the issue of climate change will be ‘central’ to all discussions and deliberations while formulating October’s Budget.
At Government Buildings yesterday, he acknowledged the scale of the challenge facing Ireland, and the world, over the coming years as countries seek to reduce the impact of global warming.
Ireland recently passed a Climate Act, which commits the Government to reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, and to cutting emissions by 50% in the next nine years.
Mr Donohoe said the IPCC report ‘reminded us of the threat to our civilisation’ and he reiterated that the Government has committed to increasing carbon tax to €100 per tonne by 2030.