Ireland 'will lead by example' in alliance to phase out oil and gas production

Eamon Ryan: Ireland 'has closed the door on new exploration activities for oil and gas' through the 2021 Climate Act. File picture

Ireland “will lead by example” in signing up to an alliance of countries to help phase out the production of oil and gas to tackle climate change.

The Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance (Boga) has been hailed as a first-of-its-kind alliance that aims to set an end date for oil and gas exploration and extraction.

Boga is co-chaired by Denmark and Costa Rica — Ireland joins France, Wales, Sweden, Greenland, and Quebec as core members of the alliance.

Portugal, California, and New Zealand are associate members and Italy is supporting it as a “friend”.

Environment Minister Eamon Ryan said Ireland “is leading the way in incentivising the transition to renewable energy and putting ourselves on a pathway to net-zero, by legislating to keep fossil fuels in the ground". 

He said the decision to join Boga “sends a powerful message that we are moving irrevocably away from fossil fuels towards a renewable future — both in Ireland and internationally”.

Mr Ryan said Ireland “has closed the door on new exploration activities for oil and gas” through the 2021 Climate Act.

Danish climate minister Dan Jorgensen, who announced the alliance at the Cop26 summit on Thursday, said he hoped it would mark “the beginning of the end of oil and gas” and invited other countries to join it.

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change executive secretary Patricia Espinosa, UN secretary general Antonio Guterres, and Cop26 president Alok Sharma at the Cop26 summit in Glasgow on Thursday. Picture:Jane Barlow/PA Wire

The core countries in the alliance are committed to ending new licensing for oil and gas exploration and setting an end date for their exploration. Associate members are taking other measures that contribute to aligning oil and gas production with globally agreed goals to limit dangerous warming.

Mr Jorgensen said they wanted to spark the debate over future production.

Meeting the goals in the Paris climate treaty to limit temperature rises to “well below 2C” and try to limit them to 1.5C requires significant reductions in coal, oil and natural or fossil gas.

In Ireland, there is no longer a legal basis for granting new licences for the exploration of oil and gas.

“In line with Irish Government policy of keeping fossil fuels in the ground, we are also currently legislating to prohibit exploration for and extraction of coal, lignite, and oil shale,” Mr Ryan said.

Activists have hailed the news as “hugely positive”.

“With the new alliance we are now finally seeing domestic progress being reflected in foreign policy,” said Jerry MacEvilly, head of policy at Friends of the Earth Ireland.

“The fossil fuel era must be brought to an end and this means leaving fossil fuels in the ground. This new alliance is an opportunity for Ireland to show leadership and end the reckless expansion of oil and gas at home and abroad.”

CLIMATE & SUSTAINABILITY HUB