Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 19 October 2021

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action

Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and COP26: Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications

Photo of Eamon RyanEamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chair.

At the start of my opening statement, I was drawn to recollect that a former Member of the Houses, Senator Jim Dooge, was seminally involved in the establishment of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, UNFCCC, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, the structures of which we will be discussing today. He was one of the founding fathers of modern hydrology. The connection between the impact of climate change on water systems inspired him to undertake a huge diplomatic role in the founding of the IPCC and the UNFCCC structures. To bear out the point made by the Chair, while small as a nation, we can have an influence and we should use whatever influence we can.

The latest IPCC report, Climate Change 2021: the Physical Science Basis, reconfirms the limited window in which there is to act to prevent more devastating impacts of climate change and underlines the increasing urgency needed to tackle the climate crisis. The report, based on the latest climate science, has observed unprecedented changes in the climatic system. Every region of the world, across the entire climate system, has already been impacted by climate extremes. There is ever greater certainty about climate change and ever greater urgency about the need to tackle it. The role of human influence is unequivocal and undisputed and has resulted in the warming of the atmosphere, ocean and land. The report reinforces and builds on existing evidence, which links extreme weather events to climate change. Some changes, such as the rise in sea level, are irreversible, leaving low-lying lands and coastal communities extremely vulnerable.

The report also dispels any notion that the effects of the climate crisis are abstract or distant. For Ireland and Europe, the report predicts more intense heatwaves and increased flooding as temperatures rise. If global temperatures rise by more than 2°C above pre-industrial levels, there will be critical consequences for agriculture and health. With every additional fraction of a degree increase in global warming, changes in extreme events, such as heatwaves, floods and droughts, become more pronounced.

The most serious conclusion is that the window of time to stabilise our climate is closing. We recently passed the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021, which commits us to reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 at the latest and a cut of 51% by 2030, compared to 2018 levels. We will very shortly publish the climate action plan 2021. This will set out the measures we need to take to reach our 2030 targets, including more renewable energy, decreased transport emissions, changes in how we heat our homes and how we grow our food and look after our land. These steps will be challenging, but they will also create new opportunities.

Each of the IPCC's assessment reports is a remarkable undertaking, drawing on thousands of experts from around the world to provide the most complete, scientific assessment of our climate. The work of the IPCC relies on information and analysis provided by research and sustained systemic observations of the climate system and I wish to acknowledge the contributions by authors and scientists from Ireland to the report. Previous IPCC assessments have been the catalysts for unprecedented international responses, including the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement. I am ambitious that this sixth assessment will similarly provoke the reaction required at COP26 in Glasgow next month to set the world on a safe and sustainable trajectory and to support the most vulnerable.

It is clear that international co-operation and co-ordination is a prerequisite to limit global temperature rises. In this context, I am proud to lead Ireland’s climate delegation for COP26. We will have a significant presence and extensive engagement at the conference of parties, COP, through an increased national climate delegation, which has identified a number of key areas of focus for the negotiations that will feed into global decarbonisation efforts.

It is critical that despite the challenges that Covid presents to a global gathering of this nature, that COP26 be seen both as inclusive and as transparent as possible. This is reflected in the make-up of our own national delegation, which reflects our citizen participatory approach to climate action, and the promotion and participation of women, young people and NGOs in the negotiations and observer groups.

It is also reflected in our national negotiation priorities. A primary objective is the finalisation of the Paris rulebook, which will allow for the full operationalisation of the Paris Agreement. This includes consensus on matters such as carbon markets under Article 6, transparency, climate finance and adaptation, as called for by developing countries. Agreement on a way forward for future finance discussions, solutions on forward approaches to address loss and damage and the scaling up of support to enhance action on adaptation are also key deliverables. In summary, we are committed to realising the goals of the Paris Agreement, championing progressive action and ensuring the most vulnerable are at the heart of all our engagement.

Ireland has a strong commitment and track record on providing balanced share of climate finance going to adaptation and to the inclusion of grant-based finance for least developed countries, LDCs, and small island developing states, SIDS. At the UN General Assembly in September, Ireland launched the champions group on adaptation finance, together with the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and the UK. This group plans to advocate to other donor countries on increasing the quality, quantity and accessibility of climate adaptation finance, specifically meeting the $100 billion goal.

Climate finance has enabled us to support people in LDCs and SIDS. It has enabled us to amplify the voices of these countries in climate change decision-making. Ireland will support LDCs and SIDS at COP26 and in preparing for a climate-resilient future, will stand in solidarity with countries that have done the least to contribute to the problem of climate change, and yet face the harshest impacts.

In doing so, we are striving to illustrate the coherency between our international climate co-operation agenda and our domestic climate action ambition. One of the most effective ways to influence others is when our actions at home are consistent with our advocacy abroad. Ireland’s increased domestic climate ambition demonstrates our commitment to provide support and leadership for international efforts on climate action and gives us a credible voice at the negotiating table.

The British Prime Minister, in typically colourful fashion, has summarised the ambition of the UK presidency as action on "coal, cars, cash and trees". However, this should not underplay their stated commitment to making progress in a transparent and inclusive way and in solidarity with all countries. My Department continues to work closely with UK counterparts in preparing for and framing the nature of the debate, and shares the ambition of bringing countries together to agree a comprehensive, ambitious and balanced outcome that takes forward co-ordinated climate action, while remaining true to the Paris Agreement and keeping alive the prospect of an overall 1.5°C increase in temperature.

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