First vice-president of the European Parliament, Mairead McGuinness, has spoken about the European Green Deal at DCU’s Virtual Water Cafe.

Discussing the key policy areas of the Green Deal; biodiversity, farm to fork, sustainable agriculture, clean energy, construction and renovation, sustainable mobility, eliminating pollution and climate action, McGuinness said: "The European Green Deal is about using our resources in a more sustainable way for the benefit of society and the natural environment, and water is included in that. 

"Through the circular economy, by using our resources more efficiently and by protecting more terrestrial and marine areas the European Green Deal aims to make the EU's economy more resilient and ready to face the challenges that climate change presents.”

She also spoke of the social dimension to the deal and how fairness and ensuring that nobody was left behind were core tenets of the agreement.

Investments on sustainability

She also noted that even in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the commission has stressed its determination to prioritise the European Green Deal and that the proposed Recovery Find – Next Generation EU – would focus investments on sustainability and ensuring that member states invest in future sustainability. Now is the time to invest in a future that is more sustainable.

“Across Europe there is an understanding that we can’t keep going in a linear fashion, extracting resources, producing goods and services and dumping waste... And even though this is going to be a challenge for member states, Ireland included, I think it’s also a fantastic opportunity.”

McGuinness spoke also about “the science of carbon capture, the role of carbon sinks, [and how] one of the issues for Ireland is our peat lands. There’s been a lot of announcements of Bord na Móna pulling away from the harvesting of peat… and in the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy, one of the proposals is that there should be a rewetting of wetlands”, and the myriad of sensitivities around this, after decades of policy being one of draining of these areas.

DCU president Professor Brian MacCraith said: “We are very proud of the work being done by the Water Institute, which aligns with the university’s own commitment to sustainability. DCU has been ranked No 12 in the world for each of the past two years in the UI GreenMetric World University Rankings.

"Here in DCU we believe that we have a responsibility to create knowledge and to advance society. The Water Institute exemplifies this approach with very clearly defined goals focusing on safe secure drinking water, healthy aquatic ecosystems and reliable, energy efficient water supplies for a sustainable economy and the work of the institute is highly relevant to the European Green Deal.”

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