The Mansion House, Dublin, 10 October 2022: Marguerite Sayers, Deputy Chief Executive of ESB, Ossian Smyth TD, Minister of State with responsibility for Public Procurement and eGovernment at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Tracey Crowe, Chief of Staff and Senior Director at Sustainable Energy For All (SE4ALL), Paddy Hayes, Chief Executive of ESB, Dr Jeanne Moore, Policy Analyst, National Economic and Social Council and David O'Sullivan, IIEA Director-General (pictured left to right) at ACCELERATE: The Transition to a Net Zero Future, hosted by ESB and the Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA).

There is an urgent need to overhaul the planning system so as to allow for a more effective response to the current climate and energy crises, according to Ossian Smyth, Minister of State with responsibility for Public Procurement and eGovernment.

The current system is seen as “an obstruction; something that makes it harder to do things”, he told a conference on accelerating progress towards an Ireland of net-zero carbon emissions.

The planning system was “sometimes seen as being too discretionary, as not being objective, and therefore arbitrary”, which introduced an element of risk, Mr Smyth added.

In contrast, planning should be about making plans, he said — “county development plans, energy plans, strategic plans”, and not be primarily about granting planning permission or not, he told a conference hosted by the Institute of International and European Affairs and the ESB.

The Minister said he favoured a rules-based rather than a discretionary system — one that removes randomness and unpredictability while retaining fairness and due process. Attorney General Paul Gallagher is examining possible planning reforms and is expected to submit a report to Cabinet in coming months.

Mr Smyth said the case for reform had to be seen in the context of “a climate emergency requiring an emergency response”, where critical processes were speeded up. People wanted “a speed-up” on renewable energy, especially in light of the Ukraine war.

“There’s a feeling we cannot rely on Russia and on the Middle East to keep our country running; we need our offshore wind farms, we need our solar farms, we need anaerobic digesters — and why have we not got them already,” he noted.

ESB chief executive Paddy Hayes said ensuring widespread availability of clean electricity was critical to decarbonising the economy; “electricity has to get there early to enable others”.

The challenge in securing a resilient, inclusive and sustainable net-zero future was immense, and made worse and more complex by the combination of current cost-of-living crisis and existential threat of climate change. But it was achievable, he said — provided there was greater urgency.

Ireland was currently producing more than 5 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy, close to the country’s peak demand for power, he said. But “1GW plus” was needed every year for the rest of the decade ranging across onshore, offshore and solar — with Eirgrid connections more than doubling, including 3GW of offshore wind feeding into the grid, and a scaling up of battery storage capacity.

This had to be backed by a plan for no wind in the system and backup of flexible gas-fired generation for use when renewables were not available — ESB was planning to build three of such plants, and intended to be in hydrogen production by 2030 to help balance renewables generation.

That meant an investment of by ESB of €1.2 billion this year, rising to €2 billion a year by 2030. “Now is the time we have to stay the course and continue to invest in renewables,” Mr Hayes underlined.

Olivia Lazard of Carnegie Europe said one of Russia’s aims in Ukraine was gaining access to vital resources in eastern parts of the country the EU needs to deliver on its climate change agenda.

This must also seen in the broader context of a transitioning world, destabilised by climate disruptions and geoeconomic competition for a renewables-based energy mix relying on critical raw materials. This meant security of supply was tied into climate and ecological security, she said.

Because of energy density demands in generating vast amounts renewable power, it meant a lot more copper, lithium, graphite, cobalt and other rare earth metals were required, she said. The EU should be focused on likely supply chains, while being mindful of the risk that violence, corruption and under development would be deployed by wealthy elites exert to control over populations. This was often in the most climate-vulnerable countries, Ms Lazard said.

Economist Prof Dieter Helm of Oxford University said the transition to net zero had accelerated yet carbon was being added to the atmosphere; by 2 parts per million every year for the past three decades. This was because climate change “is not just about emissions. It’s about the net of emissions and sequestration”.

There was a lack of progress on capturing carbon. One of the most devastating developments was the gradual drying out of the Amazon which was becoming a net emitter of carbon, when it was “one of the greatest carbon sinks in on the planet”.

Business as usual and the current COP negotiation process was not going to be enough. “We need to do more. What we’re doing at the moment is living beyond our carbon means. It’s not sustainable and therefore it will not be sustained.”

That meant the polluter must pay for carbon pollution; increased carbon taxes and carbon border adjustments, which were difficult politically. If not pursued, “the climate problem will not be cracked,” Prof Helm said.

He added: “So when it comes to thinking about energy policy and how to do net zero, we need to go back to basics ... It’s about security of supply, it’s about affordability and it’s about climate change. And you need to achieve all three simultaneously.”

Kevin O'Sullivan is Environment and Science Editor and former editor of The Irish Times