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CLIMATE CHANGE

CLIMATE CHANGE

<p>President Catherine Connolly working with instructor Cian Corcoran assembling a cabinet during her visit to Common Knowledge, the award-winning social enterprise in Co Clare earlier this month. Picture: Eamon Ward</p>

comment-analysis

Social enterprises can be powerful drivers of climate action

In an era of increasingly severe storms, social enterprises are reusing, repurposing, and recycling resources in innovative ways — while also reinvesting back into their social cause

<p>By 2030, Ireland has pledged to protect 30% of our marine waters. With less than 10% of Ireland’s seas currently designated as a MPA, we are currently nowhere near that target and have no adequate management plans in place for any of these areas.</p>

comment-analysis

Ireland has a chance to get it right on protecting our seas

<p> Emergency personnel working in Main St, Midleton, Co Cork, during the flood caused by Storm Babet in October 2023. Picture: Eddie O'Hare</p>

munster

'Midleton flood left my family in despair': Cork residents write to Government about their plight

Scenic green valley and colourful rhododendron bushes in the Vee, Knockmealdown Mountains, Ireland.

comment-analysis

Habitats report a stark contrast to nitrates decision

AI boom has released same amount of CO2 in 2025 as New York City has, report claims

news

AI boom has released same amount of CO2 in 2025 as New York City has, report claims

Ireland needs 'significant shift away from private car use' to meet climate commitments, report says

news

Ireland needs 'significant shift away from private car use' to meet climate commitments, report says

Man with planet earth in hands

Only half of HSE steering group attended meetings to discuss its climate action plan

The internal audit also noted the lack of a 'comprehensive, consolidated database on the impact of extreme weather events... on Irish healthcare facilities'

Wed, 17 Dec, 2025

Herd of Friesian cattle

Stephen Cadogan: Ireland's derogation has bucked the trend of EU dairy decline

Perhaps the Irish nitrates situation has allowed the EU to show it too is concerned for the future of EU dairying, writes Stephen Cadogan

Tue, 16 Dec, 2025

People riding bicycles in Paris, France.

Emmanuel Macron: Ten years after the Paris Agreement, let's redouble our efforts

France has made a clear choice to put ecology at the heart of all its economic, planning, energy, agricultural and industrial policies, writes President of France, Emmanuel Macron

Mon, 15 Dec, 2025

SPAIN-FIRE-CLIMATE-ENVIRONMENT

2025 'virtually certain' to be second- or third-hottest year on record, EU data shows

Copernicus deputy director says three-year average for 2023 to 2025 on track to exceed 1.5C of heating for first time

Tue, 09 Dec, 2025

Challenges around infrastructure are finally being tackled

Challenges around infrastructure are finally being tackled

Implementation of the list of 30 actions set out in the Accelerating Infrastructure Taskforce report is critical for Ireland’s ambitions to meet its climate targets, and for our future economic development

Mon, 08 Dec, 2025

Aldi recycling centre in Ireland.

Re-turn planning to use some of its €89.8m to build bottle-to-bottle recycling facility

Re-turn intends to use some of the funds accumulated from unclaimed deposits and producer fees to develop the new facility

Fri, 05 Dec, 2025

Michelle McKeown: The weather tug-of-war that shapes our winters

Michelle McKeown: The weather tug-of-war that shapes our winters

Understanding the North Atlantic Oscillation won’t stop Irish winters being chaotic, but it helps explain why they sometimes fall into familiar rhythms. And it reminds us that, while climate change is gradually reshaping global systems, natural variability still has plenty to say

Fri, 05 Dec, 2025

Indonesia Extreme Weather Landslides

Our money is fuelling climate change

Since the Paris Agreement in 2015, the world’s 65 biggest banks have committed US$7.9 trillion to the fossil fuel industry, writes Karol Balfe.

Wed, 03 Dec, 2025

Indonesia Extreme Weather Landslides

More than 800 still missing after flooding in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand

More than 800 people remain missing after devastating floods killed over 1,100 people last week in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand, with Indonesia’s president urging more action to confront the changing climate.

Mon, 01 Dec, 2025

The bioeconomy surrounds us but there is enormous potential for more

The bioeconomy surrounds us but there is enormous potential for more

Batteries that use wood-pulp, plant-based trainers and corn-based forks. They're much closer than you think, and the EU’s new Bioeconomy Strategy aims to supercharge the sector, writes Jessika Roswall

Fri, 28 Nov, 2025

The Greenland Ice Sheet, Facing Global Warming, Is Melting

John Gibbons: A big freeze could turn the Irish into climate refugees

We should reflect on 'get-tough' proposals on immigration: If the Amoc currents that moderate Ireland’s climate fail, temperatures will plunge, making grass-based agriculture impossible

Thu, 27 Nov, 2025

Autumn weather Nov 14th 2025

Ireland's luck in avoiding extreme flooding to 'run out eventually'

Scientists say Storm Claudia’s rainfall was intensified by climate change and warn Ireland could face catastrophic flooding if future storms align with spring tides

Thu, 27 Nov, 2025

Resident of flood-hit Cork village tells committee they 'live in fear every time it rains'

Resident of flood-hit Cork village tells committee they 'live in fear every time it rains'

Vivienne Jeffers from Mogeely also called on councils and developers to 'stop building on flood plains'

Tue, 25 Nov, 2025

Climate COP30

Cop30 talks end with deal for more money for countries hit by climate change

But the agreement does not include an explicit, detailed map to phase out fossil fuels or strengthen inadequate emissions cutting plans

Sat, 22 Nov, 2025

Narwhal washed up on Donegal beach raises climate change concerns

Narwhal washed up on Donegal beach raises climate change concerns

Arctic whale’s discovery on a Donegal beach has triggered a major scientific examination and renewed warnings about climate impacts

Fri, 21 Nov, 2025

Teagasc opens new research and innovation centre at Johnstown Castle

Teagasc opens new research and innovation centre at Johnstown Castle

The new laboratories at NASRIC will further support research in water quality, soil health, greenhouse gas emissions, carbon farming, nutrient efficiency and farmland biodiversity

Tue, 18 Nov, 2025

Heatwaves will get worse the longer we fail to reach net zero targets, research says

Heatwaves will get worse the longer we fail to reach net zero targets, research says

The first week of Cop30 was marked by 'the good, the bad and the ugly', according to Action Aid Ireland chief executive Karol Balfe

Mon, 17 Nov, 2025

Ireland's approach to climate action is erratic

Ireland's approach to climate action is erratic

Ireland’s climate policy has been on the wrong track for far too long. Course-correction is the only way forward

Sun, 16 Nov, 2025

Climate COP30

Fossil fuel lobbyists outnumber all Cop30 delegations except Brazil, report says

It brings the total number of fossil fuel lobbyists given access to the UN climate summits to 7,000 over the past five years, according to Kick Big Polluters Out

Fri, 14 Nov, 2025

Kerry's Skellig Michael at risk of damage due to climate change, report warns

Kerry's Skellig Michael at risk of damage due to climate change, report warns

National Geographic Society report says Great Skellig island is likely to suffer damage from rising seas, more rainfall and warmer oceans, erosion and habitat damage, harming the 6th-century monastic structures, as well as bird life

Thu, 13 Nov, 2025

Presidential inauguration - Dublin

Ireland’s new climate justice President

Catherine Connolly won over 63% of the vote because she effectively linked many different climate justice issues to a vision of a better future and a unified Ireland, writes Jennie C Stephens, Professor of Climate Justice at the ICARUS Climate Research Centre at Maynooth University

Thu, 13 Nov, 2025

Ireland overshoots greenhouse gas limits by 10m tonnes

Ireland overshoots greenhouse gas limits by 10m tonnes

The excess over our current carbon budget is equivalent to 10 times the volume of emissions from a city the size of Cork

Thu, 13 Nov, 2025

Commissioner: Farmers’ environmental work ‘not in vain’ as derogation talks intensify

Is this likely to be Ireland’s last derogation?

The draft proposals for the sixth Nitrates Action Programme include additional slurry storage and a mandatory nutrient balance number for every farm — a measure aimed at ensuring farmers track what nutrients are entering and leaving their holdings

Wed, 12 Nov, 2025

Climate COP30

Protesters force their way into Cop30 summit venue, clash with security

Dozens of Indigenous protesters forced their way into the Cop30 climate summit venue on Tuesday and clashed with security guards at the entrance to demand climate action and forest protection.

Wed, 12 Nov, 2025

BRAZIL-US-ENVIRONMENT-CLIMATE-CORREA DO LAGO

China 'coming up with solutions for everyone', says Cop30 chief

“Somehow the reduction in enthusiasm of the global north is showing that the global south is moving,” said Cop30 president André Corrêa do Lago.

Mon, 10 Nov, 2025