Climate & Sustainability - Irish Examiner

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Climate and Sustainability

<p>If offshore wind is to be a pillar of Government strategy, we need to see the roadmap of scenarios, decision points, trade-offs and choices informed by the best research evidence and followed by a plan of action to deliver it. File picture</p>

comment-analysis

Telling the truth about Ireland’s climate future

To avoid the political polarisation we see in the US, climate action needs to remain a shared national priority, grounded in evidence rather than ideology

<p>The choice between meat and beans is not binary — the environmental impact is never straightforward.</p>

comment-analysis

There's no such thing as a binary choice on food ethics

<p>A container ship steams through the turbulent sea conditions during Storm Aiden past Roches Point in 2020. The extra heat makes hurricanes and typhoons more intense, causes heavier downpours of rain and greater flooding, and results in longer marine heatwaves. File picture: David Creedon / Anzenberger</p>

news

‘Profound impacts’: Record ocean heat is intensifying climate disasters, data shows

Cold enough to remember

outdoors

Cold enough to remember

Global warming increasing risk of severe weather events, Met Éireann warns

news

Global warming increasing risk of severe weather events, Met Éireann warns

MTU launches Ireland’s first pilot biorefinery in Kerry

farming

MTU launches Ireland’s first pilot biorefinery in Kerry

Lense

Ireland’s 2025 environmental review — and a look ahead to 2026

Ireland did not experience a single defining climate disaster in 2025... climate change in Ireland now operates less as a headline-grabbing event and more as a persistent context

Fri, 02 Jan, 2026

Social enterprises can be powerful drivers of climate action

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

Wed, 31 Dec, 2025

Aerial view of the coastline of Inishbofin, Co. Galway.

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

Ireland has a once-in-a-generation chance to legally protect nature in our seas and along our coasts, and we need to do it properly, writes Jack O’Donovan Trá

Tue, 30 Dec, 2025

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

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

Midleton, Mogeely, and Rathcormac residents prominent among those making submissions to the consultation stage of the Accelerating Infrastructure plan

Tue, 30 Dec, 2025

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

Habitats report a stark contrast to nitrates decision

Biodiversity collapse is not a lost cause, but Government failure to prioritise it is devastating for all those working on nature restoration

Mon, 22 Dec, 2025

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

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

Study author says tech companies are reaping benefits of artificial intelligence age but society is left to pay cost

Thu, 18 Dec, 2025

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

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

Private car use was leading source of transport energy demand last year, Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland report found

Wed, 17 Dec, 2025

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

EU to fast-track construction of cross-border power connections

EU to fast-track construction of cross-border power connections

Energy Highways plan is intended to improve network efficiency, cut prices, and reduce the EU’s reliance on imported fossil fuels

Fri, 05 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

An aerial view of the rural landscape around Dublin Airport , Ireland, showing a patchwork of green fields divided by hedgerows

Key updates for ACRES participants revealed

The Department of Agriculture has issued several updates for ACRES participants surrounding NPIs, training courses, amendments and documentation submission deadlines

Thu, 04 Dec, 2025

Wexford farmer takes home top prize at EU Innovation Award

Wexford farmer takes home top prize at EU Innovation Award

Cheryl Poole, a dairy farmer from just outside of Gorey, Co Wexford, has won the coveted Innovation Award for Women Farmers for her work protecting local water systems

Thu, 04 Dec, 2025

Closeup of machine spreading fertilizer

Nitrates derogation extension for Ireland still far from a 'done deal'

A reduction in chemical nitrogen is one of the EU's conditions for proposed extension of Ireland's derogation

Wed, 03 Dec, 2025

Dried Black soldier fly larvae, calci worms food wildlife birds

Environmental benefits of insect protein overstated, say researchers

It may cause second thoughts in the EU Commission, which has approved several insect species for human consumption

Wed, 03 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