IF the worries of industry are taken as a barometer of the impact of Government policy, then the commitment to limit carbon dioxide emissions to a 15 per cent increase on 1990 levels by the year 2010 is the most radical element in the Government's strategy for sustainable development.
Unveiled yesterday by the Minister for the Environment, Mr Howlin, the plan could have far-reaching implications.
These range from the need for improved energy efficiency in all buildings to the use of more fuel-efficient vehicles as well as measures to reduce emissions from industry and electricity generating plants.
ERM, an English firm of consultants, has been commissioned to examine the policy initiatives needed to implement what even the Department of the Environment concedes is an "ambitious target" and, perhaps, even a bitter pill to swallow.
But if Ireland is to have any credibility in the current round of negotiations under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change even as a less developed EU member state it must be seen to be doing its bit to deal with the problem of "greenhouse gas" emissions.
Some indication of how difficult it might be to achieve the new target is demonstrated by the fact that Ireland's emissions of carbon dioxide, the principal greenhouse gas, are already at least 10 per cent higher than they were in 1990, largely as a direct result of economic growth.
Yet the commitment to cap the increase in emissions at 15 per cent in just over 12 years is made not in a discussion document or Green Paper, but in a strategy endorsed by the Government which must now be regarded as firm national policy, at home and abroad.
The National Strategy for Sustainable Development took more than a year to negotiate, between the Department of the Environment and other Departments, notably Enterprise and Employment, Energy and Tourism and Trade, which have different agendas.
Not only does it set a new agenda, it also establishes new structures notably the National Council for Sustainable Development which should ensure that this is constantly reviewed and updated to become a rolling programme of reform.
"Nobody is underestimating the difficulties of achieving this because we are dealing with serious conflicts in some cases," said one official source.
"If all Government Departments were working together there wouldn't be a need for a sustainable development strategy."
He said the strategy represented "only the beginning of getting the economic departments on board".
Thus, for the moment, it is largely confined to setting short term goals. But he said these would lead to "new goals and new actions" as time went on.
For example, the strategy places a considerable onus on the Department of Finance to deal with the issue of "green taxation", something it has been reluctant to do before now. Though such measures were promised in this year's budget, it contained almost nothing.
No detailed cost breakdown accompanies the strategy. "If we put a price on it, there would be howls all round," one source said.
But he said there would be savings, too. Farmers could save up to £25 million a year by reducing the use of fertilisers.
The new prohibition on local authorities placing landfill dumps in coastal areas means they will simply have to look elsewhere.
Less easy to achieve will be the pledge to increase the development of renewable sources to meet 14 per cent of energy demand by 2010.
Officials concede that the number of cars in Dublin will be a "test case for sustainability".
They are also preparing a "green plan" for the Department of the Environment, though it is unclear whether this would clear their own parked cars from the grounds of the Custom Horse.
