"Green" policies are destroying this country

Yeah, more of eu bureaucrats influencing our salad politics meanwhile in the real world...

By the end of next year, China will be producing about 4.4 billion tons of coal per year and India will be mining about 1.2 billion tons. Add those together and you get 5.6 billion tons of coal.

...

It's a legitimate question. China produces more CO2 per year than the entire 1st world combined. And their numbers are rising, or at least they were pre-Covid.

China is also doing a lot of other things to seriously imperil life on Earth, for example they are the number 1 producers of waste plastic in the oceans and they are also world leaders in extreme overfishing of all of the worlds oceans. Attention in their direction is both warranted and proper.

It is not "but what about". It is about perspective. And this "climate change denier" label is rather poor attempt to stifle discussion. Nobody deny that climate is changing. It was always changing and it will continue to change.

Fossil fuels are responsible for pollution and stuff like air quality and there is no doubt about that but all that global warming, cooling and climate change doomsday predictions are just nonsense.

None of those things are a reason why we shouldn't act on climate change ourselves.

If we sort ourselves out and we're in a much better position to put pressure on China later on. In so many ways

"The "what about China" angle that so many like to take though, is one of not wanting to do anything until China sorts itself out first."

Incorrect. The point being made by many is regardless of what we do to reduce ghg emissions and peddle backwards - is that unless China and the other other big four emitters of ghgs globally, rapidly push back on their emissions we're all fcuked. And it looks that's not going to happen eitherway

And it's not that China are not also using renewable energy generation methods, rather it's that China is using Renewable energy in addition to continued massive fossil fuel energy to take a lead on the rest of the world in terms of economic growth. The big emitters of ghgs such as China have absolutely no intentions in the short to medium term of rolling back on fossil fuels and are using renewables to give them the lead over other countries. Economically coal is cheaper than any other energy source they have and that's not going to change

But as is being continously pointed out in relation to climate change- there is no "latter on"

Rollox. Our climate emissions pale into significance globally compared to the volumes of ghgs emitted by Asian manufacturers using coal powered energy generation to produce low cost goods.

We can most certainly place embargoes on those goods produced using cheap coal (and slave labour) whilst pursuing our own emissions targets. The two are most certainly not incompatible.

Good luck with that...where will we get all the cheap plastic tat

Except it's not the "average" Irish person who is 'putting out' global levels of planet destroying green house gases as you already know.

That would be China's vast behemoth coal powered industrial complex

Because when you look at the detail - "averages" have fuk all to do with the top 5 countries producing more C02 than any where else on the planet.

But aside all that your figures are incorrect.

Recent figures for C02 emissions show that per capita figures in China have overtaken the per capita figure for Ireland with China's C02 emissions expected to rise exponentially over the next 20 years.

In 2020 Chinas per capita figure for C02 was 7.41 Tons annually. Irelands was 6.75 Tons

From our World in Data

"China is, by a significant margin, Asia’s and the world’s largest emitter: it emits nearly 10 billion tonnes each year, more than one-quarter of global emissions"

This is how the world's share of culmative C02 looks like with regard  to Ireland and China 

Its also important to look at the historical share of emissions in recent decades or centuries.

So how do Ireland and China compare? Both countries had little industry before the 1940s. And in Ireland fcuk all has changed with Ireland still having a tiny industrial base. Not so China which has become the world's largest industrial producer of goods globally with few if any indications of stopping.

Of interest Ireland Energy consumption accounts for approx 60% of Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions. So how should we get that down? Well we could continue to do what we're doing with a move to renewables knowing that can only be fully achieved by using low carbon alternatives in the period of transition and we could place embargoes on those goods produced using cheap coal (and slave labour) whilst pursuing our own emissions targets. The two are most certainly not incompatible. Or we could turn the lights out as some seem to want or we could add a whole bunch of people to our population to get down capita emissions!

And all thats the trouble with per capita figures. Larger populations tend to hide the real picture that we're likley on a fast train to crashville and climatic armegedon if China and other large-scale ghgs emitters don't get their house in order right now.

"The fossil fuel industry want us to keep using fossil fuels as long as possible and one of their tactics is to say its pointless to decarbonise unless China do it first. That's what you're parroting and it's a recipe for disaster."

First of all you can take the piss out of my dyslexia and make rubbish claims others are "parroting" all you like. It's a poor tactic regardless.

Secondly it's not the "fossil fuel" industry stating that China are the biggest single emitter of ghgs globally. Thats a fact. And that by itself is a recipe for disaster full stop

If you check, nowhere was is said in that comment that we shouldn't "decarbonise". Maybe you missed this bit?

"We can most certainly place embargoes on those Chinese goods produced using cheap coal (and slave labour) whilst pursuing our own emissions targets. The two are most certainly not incompatible."

Btw which article do you refer to? I didnt link to any article in the comment either.

"We need to decarbonise ASAP and in doing this we earn the right to enforce restrictions on importing goods with high carbon footprints. As soon as it becomes uneconomical to produce goods with coal China will abandon it."

There is no "earning of rights" to place embargoes on renewables technologies produced via slave labour and or coal powered energy whilst moving to renewbles. Neither is incompatible and infact advocating for not doing so or delaying that actually highlights much of the hypocrisy of a significant proportion of the green movement.

"By the time it becomes uneconomical to produce goods with Coal China will abandon it.

That's the point. Coal fired power plants are one of the cheapest means of producing electricity in China. The Chinese have vast reserves of their own coal and they don't give a flying monkies about the carbon taxes and other penalties being imposed elsewhere. They have no intention of abandoning any of it. And if the "green movement want us to rapidly decarbonise to reduce the impact of climate change" they need to get message to the biggest ghg emitters ASAP, not "later" but now.

"The bottom line is that we should be pumping resources into transitioning away from fossil fuels ASAP. We have all the technology we need. It's time to take it seriously. We do not have the time to waste. The fossil fuel propagandists like Bryce have cost us decades and already doomed us to a future of upheaval and destabilised climates."

Incorrect that's seems your personal "bottom line". We are already pumping vast amounts of money and investment into renewables. However we do not have all the technology we need to move to 100% renewable or anything close. Its time that the "green movement" understands that without the world's biggest emitters being reigned in now the climate is fcuked. And that's putting it politely.

We do have the technology. And people like you advocating for lng terminals and more gas exploration in Europe are unwitting stooges of the fossil fuel industry.

We should absolutely impose trading standards that add the carbon cost and enforce sustainable manufacturing practices onto our imports from outside the EU.

The EU are trying to do this and it's a battle between the greens and industrial special interests who are trying to water down those regulations. I'm glad you're taking the side of the green movement on this matter. Once these regulations are in place we will need to already be in a position to sustainably manufacture and produce essential raw materials within the EU so we are not vulnerable to retaliation by China threatening to cut off supplies

I call climate change deniers like Bryson, the guy funded by 'the manhatten institute' to write dozens of books and articles downplaying the evidence for climate change and saying fossil fuels are the solution to all of life's problem

Wishful thinking. You present your own fantasies as facts when situation is actually different.

"According to Hildegard Müller, president of VDA, the German auto industry association, Europe does not have sufficient charging infrastructure to support such a ban, and the EU Parliament is acting prematurely. 

“It will increase costs for consumers and put consumer confidence at risk,” Müller said. 

The German auto association is not alone in its opposition. EU-wide, the sentiment is one of consumer risk. "

No wonder considering price of EV and pretty much non existent charging infrastructure in Ireland.