Section 2: Environment and Energy

Care for the environment is a fundamental of green politics and decisions involving this care – or lack of it – impact on all of us, on future generations, and on our planet. Climate Change is the most dramatic example of this. Green Party environmental policies appeal to young people because they are focused on this bigger picture of protecting our quality of life into the future.

Environmental Rights and Justice

Young people must be able to have their say in the environmental and planning decision making process. Ireland has signed but not ratified the Aarhus Convention. This UN convention grants strong rights in areas of access to environmental information, rights to participate in environmental decision-making and access to justice on environmental issues. In this regard, an issue that most be urgently addressed is that of financial cost for those who wish take legal action to protect their local environment. The ratification of the Aarhus convention by the government will be a priority for the Green Party.

In government the Green Party is the only party that can be trusted to protect the future environment of young Irish people. We will initiate ambitious policies to:

a) Ensure there is coordination between environmental, planning and health agencies;

b) Reduce waste; c) Support the recycled goods market; d) Promote the creation of energy from waste by such means as anaerobic waste digesters, which can convert biodegradable food, cattle and pig waste into energy;

e) Extend ‘Producer Responsibility’;

f) Promote Community Participation via such schemes as ‘smart purchasing’ education campaigns and new eco-labelling. This will inform the public about the ‘waste’ and ‘embodied energy’ characteristics of products so that individuals can make more informed choices;

g) Protect and promote animal welfare.

The Green Party will also launch special ‘Campus environmental initiatives’

Third level campuses must be made more environmentally efficient. This will be both financially beneficial to campuses and encourage students to adopt a green lifestyle. To achieve this, the Green Party will:

• Establish a Zero Waste fund, financed by waste levies, to be made available to campuses to initiate waste reduction programmes or for research into waste reduction.
• Establish an ‘ecovarsity’ programme to reward campuses that have improved their environmental credentials over the preceding 12 months.

Energy

The Energy policy we adopt today will affect the quality of life that our children and grandchildren enjoy in years to come. We have to take that long-term view into account as we balance the three basic requirements: a cheap, clean and secure energy supply.

The Green Party will:

• seek an all-party approach to cut Ireland’s carbon emissions by 3% annually;
• work also with industry, worker and farming groups to ensure that the partnership process measures our success or failure in achieving these energy targets and puts them at the centre of our national economic planning process.