Technology and climate action

Sir, – Fintan O’Toole covers well-worn ground with his call to tax wealthy Irish people for their role in creating carbon emissions (“Well-off Irish people do the most climate damage and must pay the price”, Opinion & Analysis, February 11th). His views are given further support from Oxfam and the usual anti-capitalist brigade (Letters, February 15th).

Taxing everyone to infinity is an incredibly simple narrative – just like the zero-Covid plan – but like the zero Covid policy, it is likely to be useless. If we are serious about reducing global carbon emissions, it will require massive investments in technology – modular nuclear reactors, improved carbon capture methods, increasing wind power, insulating the housing sector properly, reducing meat consumption and somehow coming up with lower carbon intensity steel and cement (which are responsible for around 8 per cent of global emissions).

The main point is to focus on what we can do, rather than finger-pointing and engaging in the usual Irish pastime of whining and achieving nothing. – Yours, etc,

PETER KINSELLA,