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Sir Jonathon Porritt is angry. At a conference on Irish infrastructure investment, Brian Cowen, the Republic鈥檚 finance minister, said Ireland doesn鈥檛 need to spend billions on sustainability because its size means its carbon footprint is comparatively low.

鈥淲e get this in Whitehall as well 鈥� politicians saying that the UK contributes only 2% of global emissions and therefore we don鈥檛 have to worry about it,鈥� says Porritt. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a bad position, because instead of making citizens think about their lifestyle and carbon intensity, they鈥檙e letting them off the hook.鈥�

It would be difficult to find a better qualified person to make such comments. A former chairman of the Green party and leader of Friends of the Earth, Porritt now heads the Sustainable Development Commission. He describes it as a 鈥渃ritical friend鈥� of the government, advising it on environmental, social and economical sustainability.

Now, he鈥檚 being a critical friend to the Irish. The All-Island Infrastructure Investment Conference was held last week to discuss the ways in which the cross-border National Development Plan will plough 陇100bn (拢68bn) into Ireland over the next 10 years.

As the event鈥檚 keynote speaker, Porritt is concerned that Ireland is spending 陇270m (拢180m) on carbon credits in the international market rather than using the money to reduce its own emissions: 鈥淎 rich nation can always buy its way out of changing policy,鈥� he sighs. 鈥淎 more inappropriate way of dealing with Ireland鈥檚 carbon emissions is hard to imagine.鈥�

I don鈥檛 believe the ODA will actually deliver what we have set out to achieve

Sir Jonathon Porritt

Things aren鈥檛 much better in Britain. Porritt was a keen environmental advocate of the 2012 Olympics bid, and played a crucial role in persuading the International Olympic Committee of London鈥檚 wish for 鈥渢he greenest Games ever鈥�.

However, he now says the Olympic Delivery Authority鈥檚 (ODA) sustainability plan falls short of achieving this. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 believe it will actually deliver what we have set out to achieve, which is a benchmark of excellence in sustainable construction,鈥� he says. 鈥淚n many of the issues, particularly around percentage of renewables and energy efficiency, it won鈥檛 be doing much better than the rest of the country by 2012.鈥�

He says the ODA is likely to sacrifice its sustainability commitments to deliver on time and on budget. The problem is that sustainability is seen as an added cost rather than a way to save money in the long term. 鈥淭hey are not thinking about techniques like whole-life costing 鈥� ways in which you recoup additional capital expenditure by virtue of the lower operating cost of a building over time.鈥�

Porritt has flown to the conference for the day, but he is not going to accept the accusations of environmental negligence recently levelled at Prince Charles. 鈥淥bviously in the Sustainable Development Commission we offset the carbon we use when travelling,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ut people have this out of proportion. All the focus is on aviation, and not on cars or ships. I鈥檝e not heard anyone mention that shipping contributes the equivalent emissions to aviation.鈥�

Michael O鈥橪eary, the Ryanair boss, uses a similar argument when defending his airline. Porritt says that although his views are ordinarily opposed to those of O鈥橪eary 鈥渁lmost by definition鈥�, this time the Irishman has a point: 鈥淲e need to be proportionate in the way we bring forward solutions to the aviation issue. We certainly don鈥檛 need to be saying anybody who flies is a wicked sinner.鈥�