Professor Hannah Daly:

I agree that Volume 4 is all about the question of how to mobilise society in order to realise mitigation and adaptation in a way that improves people's lives. Collectively, it is very rewarding but it has been a very complex and difficult task to bring this together. We have to draw from many different academic disciplines, including sociology, political science, engineering and health science. This type of report does not have an analogy globally. It is trying to bring all of these things together to figure out how to mobilise leadership.

It is instructive to read the top of the summary for policymakers in Volume 4 where we define transformative change as being "a fundamental, system wide reorganisation across technological, economic and social factors, including paradigms and goals, and valuing the climate, the environment, equity and wellbeing within decision making". This gets to the question with a different lens. Right now, the decisions we make regarding owning a particular car or using a particular bus route in the context of the linear economy we have now reflect the fact that we are not valuing the environment or climate in decision-making as individuals, at institutional level or within our legal frameworks.

One thing that comes across in Volume 4 is how integrated the underpinning and indirect drivers of unsustainability are. These drivers are similar to those impacting other issues in Irish society, including unfairness, economic opportunity and biodiversity loss. Taking an approach that integrates climate action with prosperity and jobs, in respect of addressing biodiversity loss and so on, is really necessary to bring forth these opportunities and this transformative change. It is, though, very difficult to do.

The research highlights the role of leadership in driving transformative change and the role of individual action as being the other side of the coin of collective action. The collective action of individuals is an enabler of transformative change. There is also the importance of fairness in climate and environmental policy in getting social acceptance of the level of change. Using it as a lever to make society more fair is an important goal in its own right. We also point out many research gaps. Our research tends to be done in a siloed way and there are many research gaps in respect of the social and transformative aspects of the transition. We have a detailed annexe with information on the various elements involved in this regard.