Motorists will have to accept some of the pain involved in counteracting global warming under proposals adopted by the European Commission. New regulations setting maximum carbon emissions for all new cars will come into force by 2012 and the effect is likely to drive up the price of luxury vehicles. In the meantime, however, individual governments should play their part through taxation measures that penalise inefficient vehicles.
Those car manufacturers directly affected by the proposed regulations campaigned strenuously against them. The result was that Germany, which makes a wide range of luxury vehicles, found itself at odds with France, Italy and Spain where smaller, more fuel-efficient models are built. A compromise resulted in higher-than-optimum emission levels being agreed.
The contrast between the European Commission and the Government is stark. The commission is moving in the right direction, in spite of protests from the motor industry. The Government, on the other hand, has talked a lot about global warming but done very little. Two years ago, it formally decided not to introduce a carbon tax and opted, instead, to buy its way out of its responsibilities through carbon credits.
An Environment Protection Agency report for 2005, due out shortly, shows just how much Government aspiration differs from reality. Irish greenhouse gas emissions grew by an estimated one million tonnes in that period and the main culprits were transport and electricity generation. Transport emissions increased by 8 per cent, four times the official estimate. The Government set aside €250 million to buy carbon credits in the Budget. That could now rise to €270 million because emissions are already 12 per cent in excess of the commitments we made under the Kyoto Protocol.
Fine Gael has suggested that road transport fuels should contain between 2 and 5 per cent of biofuels and that excise duty on renewable crops should be removed. The Green Party has urged the development of public, rather than private, transport. And the Economic and Social Research Institute has recommended the introduction of a fiscally neutral carbon tax that could be used to compensate people on low incomes. All of these approaches have merit.
The Government has set targets for the development of renewable energy. But not enough is being done. There is little sense of urgency. Scientific advice makes it clear that if we are not to condemn our children's children to a world where there are mass displacements of population, worsening food and water shortages, we must take action to combat global warming now. That action will, inevitably, impact on current lifestyles. People who drive SUVs and luxury cars should pay extra for the privilege, while the use of more efficient cars and more efficient public transport should be encouraged. Buying carbon credits as an alternative to changing our energy consumption is no longer a defensible policy.