In today’s Irish Examiner, DCU researcher David Robbins separates rhetoric from policy in Ireland’s effort to meet emissions reduction targets. Read the full article here.
The real sticking point for Ireland is agriculture. According to the EPA, transport and agriculture between them will account for 80%of Ireland’s emissions. Under the Government’s Harvest 2020 programme, there will be a huge expansion of our dairy herd, with a commensurate surge in emissions.
In Paris, the Taoiseach said that Irish agriculture would be carbon-neutral, and that the Government would be investing heavily in research to achieve this. This may have been some unintended sophistry on Mr Kenny’s part: the real problem with agriculture is methane emissions, not carbon.
David is a PhD researcher in the DCU School of Communications and works with FuJo on the project Climate Change in Irish Media. He will be travelling to Paris for COP21 next week.
Cover Image: World Bank
