Your suggestions to Cork City's Climate Action Plan can help the city and the world

Cork and Dublin are two of the of 100 EU Mission Cities. By working with these cities, we are showing our intent to play our part in an EU-wide movement to accelerate reduction of emissions and working towards a common mission across the world

Thu, 14 Dec, 2023 - 17:03

Fearghal Reidy

Cop28 went into overtime earlier this week as participants debated at length how to achieve the target of Cop 21 in Paris in 2015—limiting global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees centigrade above pre-industrial levels.

While these lofty deliberations seem far from our daily lives, climate change is having a direct impact on Cork City on an increasingly regular basis. This will continue and we, individually and collectively, must act to ensure that our residents, communities and businesses can strengthen the resilience of the city to adapt and mitigate against the crisis that is climate change.

Cork City Council has recently published a draft Climate Action Plan for the city. This is a plan for everyone in the city, not just Cork City Council. Therefore, we encourage any individual, community group or organisation, large or small, public or private, to have their say by making a submission.

The draft Climate Action Plan is based on a solid evidence base and considerable consultation with a broad church of stakeholders.

A key piece of research was conducted by UCC that established the baseline of emissions in the city. This baseline highlights that, in Cork City, we emit just under one million tonnes of CO2 every year.

CLIMATE & SUSTAINABILITY HUB

Of this, the largest share (34%) comes from households, while transport accounts for 29% of the city’s emissions, and commercial services and industry account for 22% of our emissions. The remaining emissions come from public services (7%), agriculture, land use and fishing (6%) and waste (2%).

One of the most valuable exercises conducted by UCC was to map the source of these emissions across the city. This mapping demonstrates the need to reduce travel and support the concept of a 15-minute city, where we can work, go to school and engage in community services in close proximity to where we live.

What's your view on this issue?

You can tell us here

This finding mirrors recently published census data that clearly shows that the fastest growing area in Metropolitan Cork is the city centre, and the key neighbourhoods and urban towns across the city. In other words, there is demand for housing in areas of Cork that support compact growth and more sustainable development. People want to live near services.

In May this year, we conducted a resident survey to inform the draft climate action plan. A total of 509 people responded, a statistically representative sample. The resulting data provides real insight into the views of residents around climate action.

First and foremost, the majority (88%) of Cork residents believe that climate change is happening. Furthermore, 80% of respondents stated that climate change is impacting the city already and the majority of residents surveyed believe that there is a need to implement a range of actions to combat climate change across the city.

These include actions like public sector investment in enhanced pedestrianisation, improved public transport and more parks; and other actions that individuals, businesses and households can take such as reducing the use of solid fuel and retrofitting the buildings that we live, work, study and socialise in.

In short, residents of Cork City want climate action. This demand for action was echoed in the series of workshops we conducted with businesses, public sector bodies, youth groups, elected members of Cork City Council and community representatives. Notably, this engagement highlighted that opportunities for co-benefits are immense.

The majority of residents in Cork City surveyed believe that there is a need to implement a range of actions to combat climate change across the city, such as improved public transport. File picture: Damian Coleman

These are climate actions that benefit both the individual and the environment; walking improves health, energy efficiency reduces bills, buying local products creates opportunities for business and stopping car idling enhances air quality.

Furthermore, a climate change risk assessment was undertaken for Cork City. While Cork City experienced 300 floods since 1841, we have witnessed more frequent and higher intensity extreme weather events over the last number of years. Clearly the climate risks to the city relate to more frequent flooding, rainfall, droughts, heatwaves and severe weather.

This emphasises the need for adaptation and mitigation, but also the need to look out for each other in our communities, similar to how we did during the covid-19 pandemic. Above all, it emphasises that the effects of climate change are not removed from us in far off lands. They are local to Cork and we should work with empathy to support communities experiencing the impacts of climate change across the world.

Global links

While we can act locally, a key question is ‘can our actions in Cork have any impact on a global level?’. Every local authority and public body in Ireland is preparing a Climate Action Plan for its area or sector. Combined, these feed in to the national Climate Action Plan, which should make Ireland more resilient to the effects of climate change.

In addition, Cork and Dublin are two of the of 100 EU Mission Cities. Cities and towns account for 75% of the EU population and 60% of emissions. By working with these cities, we are showing our intent to play our part in an EU-wide movement to accelerate reduction of emissions well in advance of what is statutorily required, i.e. 51% reduction by 2030 and zero emissions by 2050.

If successful, this network of cities which are working towards a common mission across the EU will have a real global impact. Importantly, participation on the EU Mission provides Cork City with an opportunity to share experiences, international good practice and approaches to overcome climate-related challenges that we have in common with other EU cities, of which there are many.

Planning for climate change addresses two key issues: the impacts of climate change are local to Cork City and our efforts will support global emissions reduction.

I encourage everyone to have a look at the draft Climate Action Plan, with its 104 actions and supporting documents, and make a submission to Cork City Council on what you would like to see included and what you can do as an individual, business, community or representative organisation to enhance our city’s resilience to climate change.

Undoubtedly, this is a daunting challenge, but only by working together can we forge real change at a local, national and international level.

* Public Consultation on the draft Climate Action Plan remains open until Wednesday December 20. You can make a submission and express your views on the plan through Cork City Council’s Online Consultation Portal https://consult.corkcity.ie/en/consultation/draft-cork-city-council-climate-action-plan-2024-2029

Almost two-thirds of residents say Cork must transform into a more sustainable city