IRELAND could be facing a bill of between €8 billion and €26 billion if it misses its 2030 climate targets, according to two government advisory councils.
The Irish Fiscal Advisory Council and the Climate Change Advisory Council produced a joint report today which describes the potential financial impact of such a miss as ‘staggering’.
If things stay the way they are, Ireland is in line to exceed its 2030 greenhouse gas emissions for transport, buildings, small industry, waste and agriculture by around 57%.
Land and forestry targets are set to almost double, whilst investments in renewable energy generation are currently forecast to miss the mark by 12%.
Critics of the current targeting scheme have pointed out that Ireland is legally required to buy carbon credits from other EU member states to cover shortfalls, and that numbers as they stand may not give a true reflection of native carbon generation.
Carbon credits are expensive to buy and other countries need to be in a position to sell them, meaning that the Government may be required to think of other measures to close the gap and radically alter the current course of carbon production and renewable shortfall.
Even if the Government implements its Climate Action Plan more quickly than projected, the bill facing the Irish state could still be in the region of between €3 billion and €12 billion.
The report also suggests that committing roughly one-tenth of planned capital spending to climate action by 2030 would be enough to pay for badly-needed upgrades to the electricity grid, improving EV infrastructure for around 700,000 electric cars and improving both forestry and wetlands rewilding schemes.
Chair of the Climate Change Advisory Council Marie Donnelly put it bluntly when she spoke to RTÉ’s Morning Ireland programme:
“We will have to buy credits from other member states, which will cost us an enormous amount of money, and one of the reasons why we have come forward with the report today is to signal this concern and to reinforce the message that we can reduce these costs by spending the money today which will give the benefit to Irish people, society and economy and allow us to make the transition to a sustainable society faster.”