When he started his low-carbon cement manufacturing company 20 years ago, Donal O’Riain freely admits that the timing was wrong. Now high-profile investors are injecting millions into Ecocem’s promise to fix one of the world’s worst-polluting industries.
Multiple assessments of the Irish economy agree that the long-term issues facing us are intergenerational inequality, firms dealing with technological change, and climate change. Here is how we can tackle them.
From science to soul-searching, the industry is showing signs of a deep shift in addressing its environmental impact. The bad news is that the rest of the world has moved on, and rules are long set for the rest of this decade. The good news is that work taking place now will be useful to tackle the real challenge coming after 2030.
As budgetary caution evaporates under the Covid-19 shock, energy efficiency, buses and trains are getting funded like never before. Can these new environmental priorities survive into the future?
Much delayed legislation introduced by the Government on Wednesday will apply to Ireland the carbon budgeting world standard developed by the UK since 2008. It may not ban petrol cars as promised, but its ambition is much bigger: regulate the collaboration between scientific experts and politicians in solving their greatest challenge for the next 30 years.
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.
For the first time in five years, new renewable electricity generation sites have been selected to receive government support, unlocking a new wave of pent-up investment, construction and corporate deals in the sector.
Bundled solutions taking the risk and the upfront cost out of switching to low-energy lighting, electric vehicles or solar panels for businesses are now needed for households. Industry and the new government have been tiptoeing around this model – it is time they take the plunge.
The majority of policies agreed by Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party to achieve the transition towards a greener economy were already known from previous commitments or set in EU legislation. Yet a new level of ambition is emerging, with concrete actions most clearly spelled out in transport – and a lot left to be teased out in agriculture.
Norman Crowley has set his global carbon efficiency business on a path to double revenue every year – although he acknowledges a nine-month setback from Covid-19. As the Greens are set to enter government here, does he expect a policy boost to his business? “No.”
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