It does not need to be either economy or environment: 5 policies to benefit both

Neasa Hourigan, Finance Spokesperson for the Green Party, has welcomed research [1] from Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at Oxford that identified five policies with high potential on both economic multiplier and environmental impact metrics.

Neasa Hourigan TD said:

“Too often financial policy decisions are presented as a binary decision between what is good for the environment and what is good for the economy. We need to move away from that blinkered thinking. This research demonstrates that there are concrete policies that can be applied in Ireland to benefit both the economy and the environment.”

The research looked at policies being proposed globally and suggested that five stood out:

• Clean physical infrastructure - invest in clean energy infrastructure e.g. wind, grid updates, carbon capture
• Building efficiency retrofits - improving the energy efficiency of our existing housing stock
• Investment in education and training - the post COVID, post decarbonisation skill requirements will differ from today, we need to invest in training our workforce
• Natural capital investment - forestry, focus on climate friendly agriculture, etc.
• Clean R&D - support (e.g. through Enterprise Ireland, IDA) R&D in environmentally friendly technologies

“The Green Party proposes that the measures outlined above should be the basis for an economic and socially just post Covid recovery in conjunction with poverty, equality and gender proofed policy making. A new Green economy is one that places quality of life issues on an equal footing with economic output and would deliver a spectrum of benefits including higher air quality, viable incomes for small farmers, the eradication of fuel poverty and a sustainable future for all.”

[1] Research from Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at Oxford

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