O’Gorman - Government must increase its climate ambition as Fiscal Council shows the huge cost of inaction

Green Party Leader Roderic O’Gorman has called on the Government to massively increase its climate ambition. He made the call as new research by the Irish Fiscal Council (IFAC) and the Climate Change Advisory Council seeks to put a cost on the carbon credits Ireland will have to buy if we fail to meet our emission reduction targets. 

“Today we have even more evidence of the huge cost Ireland will face if we don’t speed up our climate action. The Fiscal Advisory Council estimates we will have to pay fines of between €8-€26 billion if we fail to take more measures. Fines of this size will have a huge impact on our economy and use up much of the surplus money we currently have”, stated Roderic O’Gorman.

“The Government needs to be doing more on climate. Last week in the Dáil I called on the Taoiseach to publish the Climate Action Plan for 2025. This plan should set out the new measures the Government are going to take in 2025 to cut carbon emissions. The Action Plan was ready to be published in December 2024, but the new Government has held off publishing it as yet. On a day when we are being shown the big financial risks from doing nothing, the Government should publish the Action Plan, including ambitious new actions for 2025”, stated Roderic O’Gorman.

The cost of the effects of climate change is already being felt by the Government, taxpayers and insurance companies, with Storm Éowyn set to cost insurers over €300 million. Investing in effective climate action, Senator Malcolm Noonan notes, is not only the right thing to do, but the financially prudent action for the country.

“Between 2020-2024, the Green Party in Government made major changes to energy, transport and home retrofits, leading to an annual reduction of carbon emissions of 6.8% in 2023, bringing them to the lowest level in 30 years. The new Government must not lose the momentum built up over the last four years. But they need to start implementing new actions now" stated Senator Noonan.

ENDS