Ireland's love affair with fossil fuels is an oil-soaked slippery slope
The global fossil fuel industry is raking in staggering profits while fuelling the climate crisis that is wreaking havoc on the planet.
While the global conversation has increasingly focused on reducing reliance on fossil fuels like oil and gas, government action has been neither sufficient nor urgent enough.
As the world now faces the escalating impacts of this climate crisis — from drought and coastal erosion in Honduras, to storms here in Ireland — Trócaire's latest report examines Ireland's role in supporting the continued growth of this unsustainable industry, which endangers billions of lives around the world.
Launched just last Thursday, our report, 'Fuelling Injustice – Ireland's Fossil Fuel Problem', explains that the emissions from just 25 oil and gas corporations between 1985 and 2018 caused more than $20 trillion in damages, while at the same time amassing profits of $30 trillion.
Such figures starkly highlight the injustice of the situation.
Wealthier nations in the Global North, where emissions are highest, have not taken the lead in reducing their carbon footprints, instead allowing climate-harming corporations to operate primarily without regulation.
This negligence manifests as a human rights crisis across the globe, with marginalised communities—who have contributed the least to climate change—suffering the most. They face extreme weather, loss of lives and livelihoods, displacement, and hunger, pushing them deeper into poverty and amplifying existing inequalities.
Globally, governments continue to enable the expansion of this destructive industry, often at the expense of the world's most vulnerable populations.
Alarmingly, by 2030, governments collectively plan to produce more than double the amount of fossil fuels required to stay within the critical 1.5C warming limit, set by the Paris Agreement.
This completely disregards the scientific consensus, the necessity of phasing out fossil fuels to mitigate further climate impacts, and violates the agreements and obligations to protect and support those who have done the least to cause this crisis, but who are suffering the most.
Ireland's climate impact
It may not surprise many to read that Ireland is falling short of its commitments, but by how much is truly shocking. Current government policies and private sector initiatives are facilitating an increase in the country's fossil fuel demand and infrastructure, (such as plans for Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) facilities) and the proliferation of data centres.
These plans directly contradict Ireland's climate obligations and risk entangling the country in human rights abuses linked to continued high greenhouse gas emissions and excessive energy demands.
Claims that dependence on more polluting, fossil fuels is a solution to energy security couldn't be further from the truth. In reality, it only exacerbates vulnerability to geopolitical shifts and price shocks.
Right now, Earth is projected to reach a sobering 2.6 – 3.1°C of warming by 2100. However, if the rest of the world had polluted like Ireland, the world would already be at 3.6°C of warming.
Ireland is on a slippery slope to missing our emissions reduction target of 51% by 2030, with just a 23% reduction expected. Even before you consider the impacts of new liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities and the energy use of projected data centres, Ireland's ambition and delivery on climate action falls far short of our fair share.
These shortcomings alone are due to cost the country €26 billion — an alarming sign of a government failing to meet its obligations.
Ireland's role as a global financial hub further complicates the issue. With substantial investments in fossil fuel companies through Irish subsidiaries, Ireland is directly and significantly implicated in the climate crisis.
In June 2024, Irish investment firms held roughly €31.76 billion in fossil fuel assets, 91% of which were tied to companies actively expanding fossil fuel production.
The emissions linked to these investments exceeded Ireland's national emissions by a staggering 20%, underscoring the need for accountability on these activities, which is currently lacking.
The world's climate crisis
The climate crisis is fundamentally a human rights crisis, and there have been increasing calls from human rights treaty bodies for a complete fossil fuel phase-out and stringent regulations against corporations responsible for damage both at home and abroad.
In Malawi where Trócaire works, 56% of those affected by Cyclone Freddy's impacts were children. Following Cyclone Freddy, hundreds of health facilities were disrupted, while displacement camps faced limited access to sanitation and medical care, leading to a surge in the spread of cholera, malaria, malnutrition, covid-19, and other vaccine-treatable diseases.
This is what climate injustice looks like: those who do the least to cause the crisis are paying the highest price. Children, women and the world's most vulnerable are losing everything.
Action
It is time for a decisive shift away from fossil fuels. Ireland can be a key player in this transition by endorsing a global Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, by prohibiting new fossil fuel infrastructure, and swiftly implementing policies that promise a just phase-out of fossil fuels domestically, and urgently reduce emissions.
Every fraction of a degree of warming holds dire consequences, making every tonne of carbon pollution critical. Ireland must urgently align with the global call for action to mitigate against catastrophic climate breakdown. It's time to hold both polluters, states, corporations, and their investors accountable.
To address our complicity in the climate crisis, Trócaire is calling on the Irish Government to implement a Climate Damages Tax on fossil fuels investments, which could generate up to €3.33 billion by 2030 and €20 billion by 2050. This would help partially address the ecological debt incurred from exceeding our fair share of carbon limits.
Additionally, leveraging public finance to compel polluters to pay for their contributions to the crisis could provide critical resources for climate finance commitments and support marginalised communities; a Climate Damages Tax and other measures available to Ireland that would make polluters pay could generate up to €9.7 billion annually.
Failing to act decisively compromises our environment and increasingly stains our moral fabric as a nation responsible for national and global human rights. The time to act is long overdue.
Sinéad Loughran is Climate Justice, Policy, and Advocacy Advisor at Trócaire
Read More
Four billion endured extra month of extreme heat due to climate change – report
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
RTÉ News
12 hours ago
- RTÉ News
Taoiseach to attend UN Ocean Conference in Nice
Taoiseach Micheál Martin will today travel to Nice to attend a United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3), which is taking place in the French city until Friday. Ten years on from the Paris Agreement, a landmark deal at COP21 that set targets to limit global warming, the world's oceans will take centre stage at UNOC3, which is being co-hosted by France and Costa Rica. This week's event follows previous UN ocean conferences in New York in 2017 and Lisbon in 2022. World leaders, UN bodies, climate activists, scientists, businesses and communities that rely on maritime environments to make their living are all taking part in what is being viewed as a crucial conference on the future of the world's oceans. Many marine scientists are warning that the world's oceans are nearing a point of no return. Decades of plastic pollution, over-fishing, seabed mining, coral bleaching and climate change have threatened the existence of many marine species and the livelihoods of coastal communities, particularly in the Global South. Speaking ahead of the conference, Mr Martin said: "As an island nation, Ireland is keenly aware of the importance of the marine environment, and the other roles our waters play, including as a vital trade route. "I look forward to joining with fellow world leaders over the coming days to discuss and collaborate on ways to secure the future of our oceans and seas." This evening, the Taoiseach will attend the inauguration of the conference's 'Green Zone', hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron. More than 60 other world leaders will be in attendance. Tomorrow, the Taoiseach will take part in an event to launch the European Ocean Pact, jointly hosted by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Mr Macron. The pact, adopted by the Commission last week, ties together a number of EU ocean policies under one framework and aims to help member states protect and restore maritime habitants. It also proposes a new European law on the oceans by 2027 to include legislation on combatting illegal fishing. Later tomorrow, Mr Martin will deliver a statement on behalf of Ireland at the conference's main plenary session. The world's oceans produce half of all the globe's oxygen and that more than three billion people rely on marine biodiversity to survive. According to the UN, up to 12 million metric tonnes of plastics enter the ocean each year. That is the equivalent of a bin truck every minute. Over 60% of marine ecosystems are already degraded and fishing stocks have plummeted since the 1970s. Global fish stocks that are classified within safe biological limits have plunged from 90% in the 1970s to just over 62% in 2021. Rising sea temperatures also pose a danger for maritime habitats. In April, global sea temperatures reached their second-highest levels ever. While some of the worst cases of coral bleaching are currently affecting marine habitats in the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean and parts of the Pacific. Li Junhua, UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, who will act as Secretary-General of the conference has said that the world's oceans are facing "an unprecedent crisis". To date, there have been a number of non-binding declarations made by governments to protect ocean life but there is no single legal agreement to tie them all together. A treaty on limiting marine plastic pollution is still in progress while a World Trade Organization agreement to preserve fish stocks has not yet been fully implemented. In 2023, 21 countries signed up to the so-called High Seas Treaty to protect marine life in international waters, with France and Spain the only two European signatories. Two years later, the treaty has been ratified by fewer than 30 countries, short of the 60 countries needed to implement it at UN level. Representatives of national delegations who have already backed the treaty hope to get enough new signatories in Nice for it to enter into force. Over the next five days in Nice, hundreds of new pledges are expected from governments. Conference organisers hope that by Friday, countries will adopt the Nice Ocean Action Plan - a political declaration setting out the main pledges to accelerate action on the conservation and sustainable use of oceans. While in Nice, Mr Martin will also take part in a number of bilateral meetings, including with the King of Jordan, Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein, Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Mottley and former US Secretary of State John Kerry who also held a key climate portfolio during the Biden administration.
Irish Examiner
5 days ago
- Irish Examiner
Ireland's love affair with fossil fuels is an oil-soaked slippery slope
The global fossil fuel industry is raking in staggering profits while fuelling the climate crisis that is wreaking havoc on the planet. While the global conversation has increasingly focused on reducing reliance on fossil fuels like oil and gas, government action has been neither sufficient nor urgent enough. As the world now faces the escalating impacts of this climate crisis — from drought and coastal erosion in Honduras, to storms here in Ireland — Trócaire's latest report examines Ireland's role in supporting the continued growth of this unsustainable industry, which endangers billions of lives around the world. Launched just last Thursday, our report, 'Fuelling Injustice – Ireland's Fossil Fuel Problem', explains that the emissions from just 25 oil and gas corporations between 1985 and 2018 caused more than $20 trillion in damages, while at the same time amassing profits of $30 trillion. Such figures starkly highlight the injustice of the situation. Wealthier nations in the Global North, where emissions are highest, have not taken the lead in reducing their carbon footprints, instead allowing climate-harming corporations to operate primarily without regulation. This negligence manifests as a human rights crisis across the globe, with marginalised communities—who have contributed the least to climate change—suffering the most. They face extreme weather, loss of lives and livelihoods, displacement, and hunger, pushing them deeper into poverty and amplifying existing inequalities. Globally, governments continue to enable the expansion of this destructive industry, often at the expense of the world's most vulnerable populations. Alarmingly, by 2030, governments collectively plan to produce more than double the amount of fossil fuels required to stay within the critical 1.5C warming limit, set by the Paris Agreement. This completely disregards the scientific consensus, the necessity of phasing out fossil fuels to mitigate further climate impacts, and violates the agreements and obligations to protect and support those who have done the least to cause this crisis, but who are suffering the most. Ireland's climate impact It may not surprise many to read that Ireland is falling short of its commitments, but by how much is truly shocking. Current government policies and private sector initiatives are facilitating an increase in the country's fossil fuel demand and infrastructure, (such as plans for Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) facilities) and the proliferation of data centres. These plans directly contradict Ireland's climate obligations and risk entangling the country in human rights abuses linked to continued high greenhouse gas emissions and excessive energy demands. Claims that dependence on more polluting, fossil fuels is a solution to energy security couldn't be further from the truth. In reality, it only exacerbates vulnerability to geopolitical shifts and price shocks. Right now, Earth is projected to reach a sobering 2.6 – 3.1°C of warming by 2100. However, if the rest of the world had polluted like Ireland, the world would already be at 3.6°C of warming. Ireland is on a slippery slope to missing our emissions reduction target of 51% by 2030, with just a 23% reduction expected. Even before you consider the impacts of new liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities and the energy use of projected data centres, Ireland's ambition and delivery on climate action falls far short of our fair share. These shortcomings alone are due to cost the country €26 billion — an alarming sign of a government failing to meet its obligations. Ireland's role as a global financial hub further complicates the issue. With substantial investments in fossil fuel companies through Irish subsidiaries, Ireland is directly and significantly implicated in the climate crisis. In June 2024, Irish investment firms held roughly €31.76 billion in fossil fuel assets, 91% of which were tied to companies actively expanding fossil fuel production. The emissions linked to these investments exceeded Ireland's national emissions by a staggering 20%, underscoring the need for accountability on these activities, which is currently lacking. The world's climate crisis The climate crisis is fundamentally a human rights crisis, and there have been increasing calls from human rights treaty bodies for a complete fossil fuel phase-out and stringent regulations against corporations responsible for damage both at home and abroad. In Malawi where Trócaire works, 56% of those affected by Cyclone Freddy's impacts were children. Following Cyclone Freddy, hundreds of health facilities were disrupted, while displacement camps faced limited access to sanitation and medical care, leading to a surge in the spread of cholera, malaria, malnutrition, covid-19, and other vaccine-treatable diseases. This is what climate injustice looks like: those who do the least to cause the crisis are paying the highest price. Children, women and the world's most vulnerable are losing everything. Action It is time for a decisive shift away from fossil fuels. Ireland can be a key player in this transition by endorsing a global Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, by prohibiting new fossil fuel infrastructure, and swiftly implementing policies that promise a just phase-out of fossil fuels domestically, and urgently reduce emissions. Every fraction of a degree of warming holds dire consequences, making every tonne of carbon pollution critical. Ireland must urgently align with the global call for action to mitigate against catastrophic climate breakdown. It's time to hold both polluters, states, corporations, and their investors accountable. To address our complicity in the climate crisis, Trócaire is calling on the Irish Government to implement a Climate Damages Tax on fossil fuels investments, which could generate up to €3.33 billion by 2030 and €20 billion by 2050. This would help partially address the ecological debt incurred from exceeding our fair share of carbon limits. Additionally, leveraging public finance to compel polluters to pay for their contributions to the crisis could provide critical resources for climate finance commitments and support marginalised communities; a Climate Damages Tax and other measures available to Ireland that would make polluters pay could generate up to €9.7 billion annually. Failing to act decisively compromises our environment and increasingly stains our moral fabric as a nation responsible for national and global human rights. The time to act is long overdue. Sinéad Loughran is Climate Justice, Policy, and Advocacy Advisor at Trócaire Read More Four billion endured extra month of extreme heat due to climate change – report
RTÉ News
01-06-2025
- RTÉ News
Will Trump kill America's clean future?
Donald Trump's campaign pledge to "drill, baby, drill," struck fear into the hearts of climate campaigners, but it was music to the ears of Washington's fossil fuel lobbyists. And the US President didn't waste any time delivering on his promises to Big Oil. In a dizzying slew of executive orders on his first day in office, Mr Trump pulled the United States out of the Paris Agreement to limit global warming, rolled back Biden-era clean energy incentives, stripped away environmental restrictions on oil and gas exploration and threw a lifeline to America's dying coal industry. Leaving no doubt as to the direction of travel, the administration went on to initiate legal action against states over their climate policies, shutter federal climate research offices, scrub information on extreme weather tracking from government websites and even ban the use of paper straws in federal buildings. "We're going back to plastic," Mr Trump said as he signed the order, "these things don't work". The president has made no secret of his disdain for renewable energy projects either, calling wind turbines "stupid" and "unsightly" and freezing approvals for wind and solar projects on federal lands and water. The administration is now reportedly preparing to eliminate limits on greenhouse gas emissions from coal and gas-fired power plants in the United States, which is already the world's second-largest polluter. For some analysts, Mr Trump's policies could sound the death knell for America's competitiveness in green energy, a field where other countries, like China, are already surging ahead. "They're really taking a meat axe to the federal government's work, both on the science of climate change and the technology addressing climate change," Harvard professor John Holdren, who was science advisor to former President Barack Obama during his two terms, told RTÉ News. Others, though, welcomed what they saw as the administration shifting focus to America's own energy security, which they believed would benefit the US in the long term. Energy security "I think what we are seeing from President Trump and Republicans in Congress is a strategy that looks to balance a future that has abundant, affordable, reliable and lower emissions energy," said Jeremy Harrell, CEO of ClearPath, a conservative-leaning clean energy organisation, based in Washington DC. Federal programmes were being reevaluated under President Trump to ensure they were "economically viable" as well as targeted towards technologies in which the US was in pole position to lead, Mr Harrell said, citing geothermal, nuclear and carbon-capture as examples. Was this an acknowledgment that the US couldn't compete with China in sectors like wind and solar, given that China now makes 80% of the world's solar panels and dominates global wind turbine manufacturing? There was certainly bi-partisan support in the US Congress, Mr Harrell said, to onshore US energy in an effort "to reduce reliance on China and Chinese supply chains, and position the US as a technology leader globally, in areas where we have some strategic advantage". But other observers felt the moment for asserting any strategic advantage had come and gone. "It is a travesty that the United States has not taken a leadership position on the clean energy future," said Caroline Spears head of Climate Cabinet, which advocates for pro-climate policies at the state and local levels. She was also sceptical that the United States would be able to boost domestic industry and technology under current conditions. "The amount of uncertainty and volatility being created is wild," said Ms Spears. And when it comes to massive projects - like nuclear - there was a danger the administration would overpromise and underdeliver, she said. The push on climate was going to have to come from individual states, she said. The power of red states Last week the US House of Representatives passed a major tax bill - dubbed the "Big Beautiful Bill," - which gutted the clean energy credits established in former President Biden's signature piece of legislation, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The bill is now on its way to the Senate, where it may well be watered down, experts said. That's partly because much of the financial benefits from the Inflation Reduction Act flowed to Republican-voting areas of the country. Senators of these so-called "red states" will be reluctant to legislate against large renewable energy plants that have brought jobs to their constituencies and have proven popular with voters, experts told RTÉ News. A recent poll carried out by the Conservative Texans for Energy Innovation found that 84 percent of Texans were in favour of renewable energy projects. Although best known for its Stetson-sporting oil barons, Texas is now the nation's leading producer of wind and solar power, having outstripped California some years ago. Nationally, a long-term study carried out by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication showed that more that three quarters of Americans supported renewable energy infrastructure on public land while 66% of people polled wanted a full transition away from fossil fuels to clean energy by mid-century. All this leads to a degree of unstoppable momentum, analysts said. "A lot of the progress we have made in the United States on the ground is not going to be reversed through policy changes," said Anthony Moffa, law professor at the University of Maine. The deployment of more renewable energy or electric vehicle adoption are trends that are going to continue, he said, even without federal government incentives. "Automakers have already invested a significant amount of money and time in developing affordable electric vehicles," he said, "and we're seeing them adopted more and more throughout the United States". Indeed, despite the Trump administration's rollback of the tax credits and incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act, the US power system began producing more electricity from clean energy sources than fossil fuels in March, according to data released by Ember, a think tank. That trend has continued for the past three months. Stalling the energy transition But while progress may not be halted, it's likely to see a significant slowdown, analysts said. According to data from E2, a US-based group of business leaders and investors, $14 billion in clean energy projects supporting 10,000 jobs have been cancelled or postponed so far this year. But this is where individual states can make a difference, Caroline Spears told RTÉ News. "They can set renewable portfolio standards, for example," she said, "they can create permitting and leasing offices and make it easier to get projects off the ground". And beyond supporting clean power generation, local governments had a variety of strategies to tackle climate change, she said. "The biggest source of pollution in the country is increasingly transportation," she said. "There's a lot that states can do on electric vehicles and on public transport," she said, "and we're seeing progress and movement there as well". Court battles As with President Trump's trade tariffs, the US courts have become a major climate battleground too. In what law professor Anthony Moffa called an "unprecedented move", the administration has thrown its weight behind lawsuits brought by fossil fuel companies against state climate policies. The department of justice, for example, sued New York and Vermont over their climate "superfund" laws that would force oil and gas companies to pay into a state fund for clean infrastructure projects. But similarly, climate campaigners are also using the courts to challenge government policies. A group of 22 young activists filed a lawsuit in Montana this week arguing that President Trump's executive orders suppressed climate science and slowed the transition to renewable energy sources in favour of fossil fuels, "thereby worsening the air pollution and climate conditions that immediately harm and endanger Plaintiffs' lives and personal security". The spokesperson for the plaintiffs 19-year-old Eva Lighthiser said in a statement that the president's fossil fuel directives were "a death sentence for my generation". "I'm not suing because I want to, I'm suing because I have to," she said. "My health, my future, and my right to speak the truth are all on the line. [President Trump] is waging war on us with fossil fuels as his weapon, and we're fighting back with the Constitution," she said. Earlier this month, 17 states and Washington DC sued the government over its ban on wind power projects. The White House accused the attorneys general of the states of using "lawfare" to thwart President Trump's agenda. 'Spherically senseless' But whatever the final legal outcome of the various cases before the courts, cuts to climate research have already caused "an enormous amount of damage," that will outlast this administration, according to John Holdren. The National Science Foundation, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy have all seen their budgets slashed, he said. Key offices that are responsible for climate change monitoring, maintaining the nation's databases related to climate change and for a large fraction of climate education in US schools, colleges and universities have been closed. Research programs cannot be revived overnight, he said, noting that staff who have been fired may have moved on to other jobs of even other countries. That early research was the "seed corn" from which future practical advances grew, he added. "When you cut that off, you're basically killing the future of innovation in all these domains, in terms of environmental and public health and in solutions for climate change," he said. This was "absolutely a case of shooting the country in the foot," he told RTÉ News. "It is what the energy analyst Amory Lovins once called 'spherically senseless,'" he said. "No matter how you look at it, it's crazy".
