Plan for climate law gets warm welcome

STOP CLIMATE Chaos, a coalition of 27 organisations campaigning to stop runaway global warming, has welcomed the Government’s decision to draft a Climate Change Bill.

“A robust climate law will be an important signal that Ireland is willing to play its part in tackling climate change before December’s climate talks [in Copenhagen],” a spokesman said.

Friends of the Earth (FoE) Irish director Oisín Coghlan described the move, reported in The Irish Times yesterday, as “a landmark for Irish climate change policy and a significant achievement for the Greens in government”, saying it would “hardwire” action and accountability on climate change into the political system.

This was “the best way to make sure all departments across government, and all governments across time, take climate change seriously and take action consistently”. It would also be a “very positive signal” for the UN climate summit in Copenhagen.

Since the campaign for an Irish climate law began in April 2007, over 50,000 supporters of the Stop Climate Chaos coalition had been signing petitions, contacting TDs and taking part in demonstrations.

“Now, something that was not in the programme for government two years ago has become Government policy,” Mr Coghlan said. This showed that people could influence policy and was also “key to a low-carbon recovery that is economically and environmentally sustainable”. FoE recently published a paper outlining the elements of an effective climate law, including the adoption of long-term targets for emissions reductions of 40 per cent by 2020 and 95 per cent by 2050 – significantly above anything currently on the negotiating table.