Mr. Maurice Sadlier:

I wish I had read more about the job of the chief heat officer. My understanding is that the person in question is looking at the impact of climate change on the city and how they can plan for a city that is being impacted by climate change, including consideration of what sort of public planning needs to be done, what sort of services are in place, how the population can be protected against increasing heat and what sort of measures can be put in place. I understand that while it is the first role of its sort in Africa, there is a chief heat officer in Athens as well. It is symptomatic of the bigger challenge around climate change, that is, loss and damage. This takes us into the realm of loss and damage. Countries are having to deal with the severe impacts of climate change. Even if we stop carbon emissions today, many of the countries with which we work are already feeling the impact of climate change so we will need adaptation funding for many years to come.

In many places, we are in the realm of loss and damage. All these roles are symptomatic of it being too late or too far down the track for some countries. I am not advocating for funding of a chief heat officer for the entire world but that shows innovation. It shows how Sierra Leone is looking at the challenges it is facing.

That is what we seeing from many of the countries we work in. Malawi, Ethiopia and the marginal islands have some of the most ambitious climate action plans in the world. Their road to net zero or to carbon-free development is far better than those of many of the developing nations that have huge resources behind them. This is what many of the countries we work with have to do with funding because of the impact of climate change.

I forgot to respond to Deputy Brady. We would love this committee to have a child-only meeting. It should not be me sitting here today but rather one of the young people I am attending COP26 with, if I was really practising what I preach. We are hoping to have some of the young people who participate in our project from Tanzania early next year. It would be great to have a discussion with them and colleagues in Galway. I am sure many other agencies in Dóchas have many young people and children we work with. It would be a real show of leadership regarding how to listen to young people.