Climate change is “the biggest threat facing humanity,” Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said.
Speaking in the Dáil today, the Fine Gael leader said that a “system change” would be needed, but that much of the impact of climate change has already happened.
“As I’ve said in this House before, I believe that climate change is the biggest threat that’s facing humanity at the moment,” he said, adding: “We have to be the generation of politicians that turns the tide on climate change and also on biodiversity loss.”
He said that this could be achieved “in many ways.”
“First of all, by reducing our emissions,” he said.
“And our greenhouse gas emissions are falling, although not fast enough. However, when you look at greenhouse gas emissions per capita, they have fallen considerably in Ireland in recent years.
“We also need to scale up adaptation because unfortunately so much of climate change has already happened, is baked in, is inevitable. So we need to scale up in terms of adaptation.
“And thirdly, we need to bring something to the table when it comes to what we ask the rest of the world to do, particularly the poorest states and most vulnerable states, some of whom are going to be the worst affected. And we’re doing that through climate finance. And I’ve made that commitment, which we will honour, to provide €225 million a year in climate finance every year by 2025.”
Ireland to give €225m annually to help other countries fight climate change
He said that a “system change” requiring significant investment would be required to tackle the issue.
“What’s required is a system change,” he said.
“I agree with that call. We need to change the way we generate our electricity. We need to change the way that we heat our buildings. We need to change the way that we travel. And we need to change our food systems, too. And that is going to take time and investment.”
He concluded: “Changing systems that took generations to build up in a decade or two is an enormous challenge, and one that is going to both take time and require a lot of investment.”
Meanwhile yesterday, at the UN’s COP28 climate meeting, Climate Minister Eamon Ryan, who is part of the team negotiating at the conference on behalf of the EU, has threatened to abandon an agreement because a draft doesn’t take a strong enough stance on phasing out fossil fuels.
“We will walk away – this is not acceptable”: Eamon Ryan, who is part of the team negotiating at COP28 on behalf of the EU, has threatened to abandon an agreement because a draft doesn't take a strong enough stance on phasing out fossil fuels.#gripthttps://t.co/xbo83RvI8b
— gript (@griptmedia) December 11, 2023
“We can’t have a get out of jail card for the fossil fuel industry, and the current text would give them that.”
He said “We can’t accept this text,” adding: “It’s not anywhere near ambitious enough. It’s not broad enough. It’s not what parties have been calling for.”