April has just experienced the hottest temperatures ever globally recorded for this month. The preceding 11 months likewise broke records for their corresponding periods, confirming the ever-mounting warnings from scientists about the rapidly intensifying climate change and how it’s nearing an irreversible stage.
For nations like Ireland, and indeed others, the primary peril lies in the tangible impacts of changing climates. Many places across the country witnessed flooding in the latter part of the previous year, an event once considered out of the ordinary but will soon be commonplace.
Issues such as flooding, droughts, and wildfires bear down heavily on most countries, but the repercussions are particularly severe for underdeveloped nations. This, consequently, escalates the influx of asylum seekers into the EU, including Ireland.
The latest report by the Climate Change Advisory Council, unveiled just yesterday, criticises Ireland’s supposed shift towards a green economy. The Council’s report implies that almost all quarters of society recognise the existential threat posed by climate change and agree that it needs addressing. Yet, the issue remains that there is a pervasive and unacceptable trend of shirking responsibility to bring about the tough decisions necessary to curtail greenhouse gas emissions.
Leadership must primarily come from the government. Ireland possesses an immensely rich wind resource potential, but the translation of this into alternative power sources has been disappointingly slow. Merely 0.2 gigawatts of wind energy capacity was increased last year.
The Climate Change Advisory Council identifies the planning system as a significant obstacle to the growth of wind energy projects. The system undeniably lacks functionality, but several other areas are equally defunct.
Industry lobby group Wind Energy Ireland states that Ireland falls behind Britain in many essential sectors required for the industry’s development, such as ports, specialised ships, and a proficient workforce.
The Irish government is mid-way through an offshore wind energy auction process that could satisfactorily fulfil 80 per cent of the nation’s electricity needs by 2030. This shows a substantial increase from the mere 35% that wind power contributed last year. Not only are these goals laudable in their own right, but they would considerably support Ireland in fulfilling its CO2 reduction objectives agreed upon at the EU level.
Unless we tackle the issues within the planning system, specifically, achieving these goals seems unlikely. It’s rather ironic that individuals are motivated to adopt electric vehicles as part of the attempt to reduce our reliance on harmful carbon emissions. However, the production of electricity necessary for these electric vehicles predominantly involves carbon-heavy processes. For the sake of a greener future, Ireland should strive for significant improvements.