‘It’s not going to be cheap’ – Government approves plan to climate-proof country

The warning was delivered as government ministers were given three months to come up with plans to protect vital services and activities under their responsibility from escalating climate change.

The Cabinet yesterday approved a new National Climate Change Adaptation Framework designed to steer government planning and investment towards protection measures, in a shift Environment Minister Eamon Ryan warned would cost billions.

A €1.3bn package of flood relief schemes planned by 2030 is already being rolled out, but it is expected many more projects will be necessary.

Up to €4bn could be spent bringing water from the Shannon to Dublin as the primary source of supply to the east coast, the Liffey, becomes more precarious.

About €250m is needed to safeguard the Dublin-Rosslare rail line from rapidly encroaching coastal erosion.

These are only some of the known problems caused or exacerbated by climate change that the adaptation framework warns will affect every aspect of life and the economy.

“We are in deeply fearful, uncertain, uncharted waters that we have to prepare for,” Mr Ryan said. “We have to prepare, we have to avoid the worst consequences, we have to deliver both reducing emissions and adapting to the climate change that’s happening at the same time.

“It’s going to cost us. It’s not going to be cheap. We have to invest.”

The framework warns of major implications from rising temperatures, increasingly intense rainfall, more damaging storms and rising sea levels, which are all anticipated, as well as sudden, dramatic extreme weather events that are harder to predict.

Flood risk – from the sea, rivers and intense cloudbursts – is a major feat­ure, but less obvious consequences are also highlighted.

Forestry could suffer severe losses because warmer temperatures can cause growth spurts in commercial species such as Sitka spruce that reduce the quality of their timber.

Golf tourism is likely to be jeopardised because of the damage to some of the country’s most famous coastal courses.

Intense rain increases risk of contamination to drinking water, with resulting hazards to public health, while climate-related stress and disruption causes mental health problems.

Street cabinets that house telecommunications and electrical connections risk overheating and may need to be retrofitted with cooling mechanisms.

Agriculture faces more disruption to growing and grazing, while fisheries face the loss of shellfish that cannot survive rising sea temperatures and the acidification effects of climate change.

Economic development will be compromised as difficult weather conditions increasingly upset trade, increase costs and reduce access to insurance.

Planning and development also face challenges as current regulations still allow for the proliferation of one-off houses, building on coastal zones and riversides and construction without solar panels, rainwater harvesting or grey water recycling systems.

Mr Ryan said all that would have to change.

“It’s lower cost when you build in climate resilience from the start, when you design it in through the planning system and through regulations so you implement measures that save you having to retrofit later,” he said.

Mr Ryan said the National Planning Framework and all county and city development plans would have to be reviewed to ensure they were in line with the adaptation goals.

He added that Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien’s department had a key role in shaping regulations to set standards for buildings and “so that we stop building in flood plains”.

“That’s still happening and it has to stop,” he said.

The adaptation framework says a “robust emergency response” must be developed to deal with extreme weather.

“There is a need to better integrate emergency response planning with longer-term disaster risk management while considering the known and projected risks arising from changing levels of climate change-influenced hazards,” it says.

The framework calls for analysis of the key professional skills needed to support climate adaptation. It notes that the number of students taking engineering, science and technology courses has dropped recently.

Mr Ryan said that while the future was “scary”, the Government had a duty to provide hope.

“We can adapt, but it needs forward thinking and long-term planning thinking. That’s what we were doing at cabinet today,” he said.

The Climate Act creates a statutory objective to create a “climate resilient” Ireland.