Councillors who claim to take the climate crisis seriously should be willing to commit to stand up against LNG and for a moratorium on data centres. While climate action requires changes across lots of sectors, including energy, transport, industry and agriculture, LNG and data centres are two major areas that NHNA campaigns on, and they are central climate issues for Ireland.
Why do we need a pledge on LNG?
- Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) is gas shipped around the world in huge tankers.
- The climate change impacts of LNG are so bad that it is more polluting than coal.
- Four LNG terminals are currently planned in Ireland. This would be like building 10 coal plants.
- One of these terminals is a proposed floating LNG terminal (also known as a Floating Storage and Regasification Unit). These come with health & safety risks and are unnecessary for energy security.
Why do we need a pledge on data centres?
- Data centres are predicted to consume 32% of Ireland’s electricity by 2030.
- We need this electricity to power homes and essential services like hospitals and schools.
- Data centres are now building their own gas plants, producing polluting fossil fuels.
- We need a moratorium, a pause on data centres, until their climate impacts are fully understood and they can align with our national climate goals.
“Councillors don’t legislate for national policy, so why a motion?“
Yes, while councillors don’t legislate over national policy their voice at council on national issues still matter. These motions will indicate our councillors’ commitment to these issues, of which some will become TDs, and represent the views of their constituents that we want a fossil free future. Furthermore, councillors have influence over the implementation of county/city development plans and local area plans, including the rezoning of land types, so one of these motions raised at the right meeting could have significant impact for their local communities.