Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 28 February 2024

Committee on Budgetary Oversight

Impact of Climate on Public Finances: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council

Mr. Niall Conroy:

I might pick up on one point. We held a conference last week on climate change, budgeting for climate change and how to best plan for it. Something that struck me was that people spoke about the need to plan for adverse outcomes. Everyone is planning to try to limit climate change and limit warming to below 1.5°C or 2°C. However, perhaps we need to start to think about how to plan for a greater degree of warming that will happen if these targets are not met. We might have to think very seriously about adapting to what could be a very different climate from the one we currently have.