Climate Change Is Real, and Denial Is the Real Farce.

Ireland Is Not Immune.

Climate change denial is not new, but it has found powerful new advocates. The Trump administration is actively encouraging Europeans to abandon green energy policy, dismissing it as a "Con Job". Daily, I encounter people who share that view, convinced the climate has always changed, that this is just another natural cycle, and that Ireland is too small to matter. The evidence suggests otherwise, and Ireland is paying the price.

Ireland's greenhouse gas emissions were about 10 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per person in 2023, placing us amongst the highest "Per Capita" emitters in Europe. Around 90% of Ireland's EU protected habitats are in unfavourable condition, and only 52% of our surface waters are in satisfactory ecological status. In a recent interview with Niall Hatch of BirdWatch Ireland, we discussed how Ireland has lost most of its native woodland cover, how wildlife has seriously declined since the 1970s, and how the condition of our habitats and freshwater reflects a country that has too often treated environmental damage as someone else's problem.

The History of Climate Change.

The Earth formed about 4.5 billion years ago. People of faith may believe creation came from God, whilst science explains the Earth’s formation through gravity, gas, dust, accretion, and major impacts in the early solar system. In its earliest state, the planet was a furnace, molten and hostile. Over millions of years, it cooled, formed crust, oceans, and atmosphere, and later moved through repeated natural climate shifts, including ice ages. Dinosaurs also came and went, and their age ended after a major asteroid impact about 66 million years ago.

These changes have been studied by geologists, climatologists, and environmental scientists over many decades. Scientists are therefore clear on one crucial point: the climate has always changed, but the current change is different. The IPCC states that human influence has unequivocally warmed the atmosphere, ocean, and land.

Since the Industrial Revolution, and particularly since the 1800s, greenhouse gases have increased suddenly and sharply. Scientists have shown that carbon dioxide has risen from about 280 parts per million before industrialisation to more than 420ppm today. They have also shown that this rise is primarily the result of human activity, above all the burning of coal, oil, and gas, together with deforestation and land use change. Atmospheric CO2 parts per million are now at levels not seen in over four million years.

The Great Acceleration: When Human Activity Changed Everything.

Whilst significant negative change occurred from the 1800s onwards, the most intense acceleration came after the 1950s in the period often described as the Great Acceleration. During that period, population, energy use, industrial production, transport, fertiliser use, consumption, and emissions all rose sharply. This was not a natural climatic swing. It was the result of an economic model built on fossil fuels, extraction, expansion, and ever-increasing consumption.

The climate has therefore always changed, but the change since the Industrial Revolution, and especially since the 1950s, is far more sudden, far more damaging, and far more clearly man-made. That is why the argument that “the climate has always changed” is not a serious defence.

Ireland Is Not Too Small to Be Harmed by Climate Change.

Whilst Ireland is a small country, and whilst many believe that we do not matter, we are also suffering the harm of climate change. In January 2025, Storm Éowyn tore across the country, with a gust of 184 km/h recorded at Mace Head, the strongest gust ever provisionally recorded in Ireland. Twelve months later, January 2026 brought prolonged heavy rainfall, and large parts of the Southeast suffered significant flooding after repeated rainbands and Storm Chandra. A rapid attribution study from Maynooth University, supported by Met Éireann climate scientists, found that human-caused climate change increased both the magnitude and the likelihood of the heavy rainfall that contributed to flooding in parts of the southeast of Ireland. Niall Hatch at BirdWatch Ireland suggested that perhaps if deforestation had not been as intense, the floods would not have been as severe.

Ireland’s Carbon Problem, High Emissions, Fossil Fuel Dependence, and the Rural Energy Challenge.

Ireland is still heavily dependent on fossil fuels, and that dependence, along with our large farming sector, helps explain why our greenhouse gas emissions remain high on a "Per Capita" basis. In 2023, Ireland’s emissions stood at around 10 tonnes of CO2 equivalent Per Person. In 2024, about 82% of Ireland’s total energy requirement was still met by fossil fuels, while agriculture remained the single largest contributor to national greenhouse gas emissions at around 38%.

Rural Ireland is also partly dependent on turf cutting, and whilst this is a long-standing tradition, the practice is environmentally harmful. Turf cutting and burning release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, but the damage does not end there. Intact bogs remove carbon dioxide from the air, store it over thousands of years, and help with water quality and flood relief.

However, providing alternative forms of energy to rural Ireland will prove extremely difficult. Rural Ireland consists mainly of dispersed housing, and the wider electricity system already requires major reinforcement to deal with rising demand, electrification, and renewable integration. EirGrid has been clear that a decade of grid upgrades is required.

The Search for Practical Solutions.

Whilst a great deal of damage has unquestionably been done, we must now look forward to a more practical and positive future. Ireland has already put in place its 4th National Biodiversity Action Plan for 2023 to 2030, and work is continuing the National Nature Restoration Plan, due to be submitted to the European Commission in September 2026.

Objectives have also been set to significantly increase the role of renewable energy. The official target is for 80% of Ireland’s electricity demand to be met by renewable sources by 2030. Progress has been made, with renewables providing 41% of electricity in 2024, but the scale of delivery required remains enormous.

ACRES was also introduced to help farmers adopt more sustainable practices on their farms. It is a major Agri-environment climate measure under Ireland’s CAP Strategic Plan, backed by €1.5 billion and designed to support up to 50,000 farmers.

Renewable energy is not just about climate targets; it is also about energy security. The more Ireland can generate from indigenous wind, solar, and other renewable sources, the less exposed we are to fossil fuel price shocks and foreign supply disruption. Plans on paper are not enough. Biodiversity strategies, restoration plans, and renewable targets will mean little unless they are matched by delivery on the ground, planning reform, grid investment, and political willingness to follow through.

Eamonn Coyle is a Chartered Engineer and Chartered Environmentalist.