Between 2010 and 2020, the Irish government failed to meet all of its EU climate commitments, including the 2020 renewable energy targets, with the exception of the potential achievement of 40% renewable electricity by 2020. And in the 2024 Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) (a scoring system designed by a German environmental organisation to enhance transparency in international climate politics), Ireland dropped six spots from 37 in 2023 to 43 out of countries, “remaining a low performer”. The CCPI panel of experts also stated that “Ireland’s policies are missing a long-term strategy for phasing out fossil fuel infrastructure and shifting investments from natural gas towards an emissions-neutral energy supply”.
The capitalist mode of production has brought the planet to an environmental crisis of catastrophic proportions. Only through the rupture with the capitalist system by Socialist Economic Planning can catastrophe be averted. The Workers Party recognises the urgent necessity of implementation of the following strategies to protect our environment and reverse the damage.
The Workers Party is committed to
• The nationalisation and state control of energy production and the energy infrastructure.
• Nationalisation and state control of water and other public utilities.
• A cheap/free at the point of demand modern transport infrastructure with investment in eco friendly modes of transportation.
• The end of Ireland’s role as an export platform for USA/UK multinationals, which includes an end to the tax holiday for MNCs.
• Opposition to profit-driven pharmaceuticals.
• Research and development in Ireland’s universities should reflect the needs of Irish people not the profits of MNCs.
• No to biofuels and other false promises
• Fisheries and waterways to be publicly owned and sustainably managed with priority on conservation.
• Food production to be driven by social need not private profit.
• Factories to produce for social need not for private profit.
• Construction based on social needs not on private profits.
• Recognition of Ireland’s place as a dependent country in the current imperialist world system which has led to impoverishment and super-exploitation of the Global South.
• Recognition that people in the Global South, who are least responsible for GHG emissions, are feeling the worst effects of global heating and other environmental disasters. The remaining CO2 budget should be divided up based on this recognition.
These and all policies should be based on the clear recognition that technology alone cannot mitigate the environmental crises. What is required is a fundamental change in the mode of economic production, a rupture with Capitalism and transition to Socialism.