Full coverage: Climate action

The government broke the internal deadlock on cuts needed from agriculture but in this podcast Thomas Hubert and Stephen Kinsella analyse the realities of what Ireland needs to do.

Thursday's announcement of most carbon ceilings for sectors of the Irish economy has clarified the direction of travel, but almost one quarter of the necessary emissions reductions remain to be found.

Like the NASA officials who learned from the Challenger space shuttle disaster, the leaders who set climate targets must deal in a world of reality. Listening to the current debate in Ireland, it seems they are not.

Having raised expectations with a sugar-coated Climate Action Plan last year, Eamon Ryan and Charlie McConalogue are faced with the hard reality of carbon budgeting figures. It could be make-or-break time for the coalition.

The Irish Petroleum Industry Association is dead, long live Fuels for Ireland. The industry body representing oil importers and distributors and Ireland's only refinery has acknowledged that its members won't sustain their businesses into the future by selling fossil fuels.

The Programme for Government has promised €9.5 billion to help households and farmers become greener, funded by a four-fold increase in carbon tax over the coming decade. Data compiled by tax officials shows this is unlikely to happen.

Depending on who you talk to, the government’s move to increase Carbon Tax was either too much too soon or too little too late. Either way, the tax needs to be a stepping stone to a different Ireland. And that involves changes our systems of production.

Budget 2020 was both weird and strange. A tentpole policy you don’t want to see used. A recognition of the fiscal prodigal that is Health. A suite of inherently prudent measures, and a raft of other small things that might not get used at all. But it was also the budget we needed.