Growing consensus that climate change is the biggest threat to humanity has not been matched by political moves to address the problem, writes Éamonn Meehan

WHAT ARE we like that it’s big news in environmental circles this week that the Government is appointing the first Climate Change Advisory Council, asks Victoria White.

WHITEWASH. Greenwash. Hogwash. Whatever kind of wash you’re having yourself, our Taoiseach has been spewing it at the UN climate summit in New York.

China has pledged to take action on climate change for the first time.

When world leaders, including the Taoiseach, meet at the UN Climate Summit, they have a chance to make a real difference. Right now, it’s as if we are falling from a skyscraper muttering ‘so far so good’, writes Éamonn Meehan, executive director of Trócaire

In Ireland we are climate hypocrites, you see. How else can you explain the fact that the number of retro-fitting projects aimed at saving energy halved in the last three years? And the fact that Rabbitte has just pushed back new energy efficiency regulations for new buildings until far-off 2020?

China, the world’s biggest carbon emitter, opened a United Nations conference on climate change today, aimed at narrowing differences before a major end-of-year meeting in Mexico.

UN climate chief Christiana Figueres yesterday warned that a string of weather calamities showed the deepening urgency to forge a breakthrough deal on global warming this year.

A fresh round of UN climate talks started in Bangkok today with leaders hoping to break the deadlock over a global warming deal and warning that failure would leave future generations fighting for survival.