The Irish Citizen’s Assembly on Climate Change is open for public submissions until tomorrow evening, and there has already been a huge number of submissions posted. Details of how to make a submission and to view other submissions can be seen on the Citizen’s Assembly Website.

The Citizen’s Assembly is not just looking for your opinion on climate change, the assembly has the huge ambition to turn Ireland into a leader in tackling climate change. This assembly will have a focus on energy, transport, and agriculture, but is open to submissions on other topics related to climate change.

There is no doubt that we are in an incredible position to do this, sitting on an island full of natural resources, and with some of the smartest engineers and scientists available to us it is easy to see how we have the capacity to become a leader in sustainable energy generation. This has positive effects on the economy as well as the environment.

If we manage to solve the energy problem it is very easy to see how our transport problems can be resolved. The Netherlands already run their train system entirely on electricity, and there are several cities that run their buses and trams on electricity. As long as this electricity is from a clean source it is easy to see how removing this large volume of diesel use would not just help to tackle climate change, it would also help to make our streets more pleasant for pedestrians and cyclists. We’ve already set our goals for replacing diesel cars for electric cars. It is a simple step beyond this to see how we can also make the changes in our public transport and commercial transport fleets.

Farmers are just like any business, they want to reduce the amount they are spending on inputs in order to maximise their outputs. If farmers can use their resources in a more efficient way they will, and a more efficient use of resources is ultimately better for the environment. That still leaves the major issue of beef and dairy production, and the high volumes of methane associated with this type of agriculture. Perhaps the citizen’s assembly will resolve this one, after all, that’s what the assembly is for.

I, for one, am looking forward to seeing what the great minds of the citizen’s assembly will come up with!