The Government's plan to tackle harmful carbon dioxide emissions is "far too cautious and predictably biased in favour of protecting the interests of big business", the Green Party has said.
The party's energy spokesman Mr Eamon Ryan welcomed today's publication of the Environmental Protection Agency's Draft National Allocation Plan (DNAP) on CO2 emissions for the period 2005 to 2007, saying it was the first "small step" towards tackling global climate change.
"At last we are putting a price on the environmental costs which result from our fossil fuel economy. However, he also criticised its "bias" in favour of industry.
The plan, introduced to allow Ireland meet its obligations under the Kyoto Protocol, will allow companies in certain sectors to 'trade' their carbon dioxide emissions. A maximum output of 67.5 million tonnes has been set for the three-year period 2005-2007. According to the EPA, Irish emissions for last year (about a third of which occur in this emissions trading sector) were at 29 per cent above 1990 levels. The agreed target under Kyoto is 13 per cent.
The DNAP affects 100 major industrial sites in the State, including power generation plants, cement production, lime, glass and ceramics plants, paper mills and the oil refining industry. Companies who fail to keep within their limits for carbon dioxide emissions will face fines of €40 per tonne of CO2 emitted above their allocation.
There were claims prior to the publication of the plan that the State's biggest industries will not actually have to cut their existing levels of CO2 emissions under the three-year programme.
However, Dr Ken Macken, programme manager with the EPA, told ireland.comthis was not strictly true. He said the power generation (powergen) sector would effectively be allocated three-quarters of its 2002/2003 emissions level under the plan, once various allowances were taken into account. Essentially, CO2 allowances in some sectors will be reduced in order to allow the emergence of cleaner, renewable energy sources.
"It does not mean [the industries] will have to 'buy' the extra one quarter. What it means is that the powergen sector is changing and that the older companies are in some sense expected to yield some market share or else to change the way they do business."
Companies with a very high energy output, such as the ESB, Cement Roadstone and Aughinish Alumina, are among those granted the highest CO2 allocations under the draft plan.
Criticising the document, Mr Eamon Ryan of the Green Party said: "Rather than change transport and energy policies to help us meet our Kyoto commitments, the Government plans to buy some four million tonnes worth of emission credits from less developed countries.
"New companies setting up in Ireland will have to buy significant amount of credits. This is thanks to the decision by the Government to give such a large free quota of emission credits to large companies.
"The reality is that this European initiative, while welcome, is only the first stage in the response that will be needed to tackle the climate change crisis. Both the English and German Governments are already talking about future cuts to their CO2 emissions of the order of 60%. Our own Government seems to believe that we can address the crisis by tinkering at the edges and buying our way to meeting our very modest Kyoto commitments."
The party also called on the Government to support projects such as the Western Rail Corridor linking Limerick, Galway and Sligo and to plan for "sustainable communities" instead of allowing "suburban sprawl and long-distance car commuting".
Dr Mary Kelly, director general of the EPA, said today that global warming is a long-term problem that requires a "long-term strategic global response".
"The allocation process proposed by the EPA will reduce harmful emissions by establishing a price for carbon dioxide, by encouraging the development of renewable energy and CHP (Combined Heat and Power) and by making processes which emit large amounts of carbon dioxide prohibitively expensive."