{"id":261712,"date":"2026-01-01T13:48:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T13:48:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/261712\/"},"modified":"2026-01-01T13:48:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T13:48:08","slug":"the-solution-to-tackling-the-climate-crisis-we-need-everything-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/261712\/","title":{"rendered":"The solution to tackling the climate crisis? We need everything \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Having worked on the climate<\/a> newsbeat for almost a decade, it was easy to notice a recurring trend. <\/p>\n

My email inbox was often peppered by what might be described in PR speak as \u201csuper excited\u201d messages. <\/p>\n

They would come from companies, research institutions and individuals including the odd brilliant engineer, claiming to have technology to solve the climate crisis. They had created some new way to gobble up emissions<\/a> or even claim to have found a new source of endless green energy. <\/p>\n

Their inventions sometimes turned out to be impressive, but usually failed the tests of cost and ability to scale to cut emissions sufficiently or to generate affordable, clean energy \u2013 hydrogen being the obvious example that continues to fail the cost test. <\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure there is a mathematical exercise that can be done to reveal what particular technology is likely to deliver in terms of reducing greenhouse gases (GHGs) in all their notorious forms. <\/p>\n

Ultimately, however, I\u2019m convinced the scale of the problem is such that we need everything.<\/p>\n

Every scalable option shown to work at reasonable cost is required; embracing wind, solar, batteries, enhanced grids, hydro, geothermal and green hydrogen (if it can be made cheap enough) for starters. <\/p>\n

And dare I say, nuclear \u2013 preferably small modular reactors \u2013 must be considered, though that bet may only be realised in decades to come rather than now, as is the case with fusion reactors. They could easily prove to be too costly to be viable in the Irish context. In short, we cannot afford to hang about waiting for them. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0What does the summer of 2025 tell us about the changing climate?Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

We also have to build continentwide power grids and to improve energy efficiency at every turn (especially if we are to solve the escalating demands of data centres and ensure AI works for us in an orderly fashion rather than resulting in chaos and enriching tech moguls). <\/p>\n

Then, there is the essential need to electrify transport and to slash methane emissions. We have to build ships fuelled by green ammonia and fly planes where sustainable aviation fuels is the norm. <\/p>\n

Looking at the relentless rise of GHGs in the atmosphere, I sense we will need to suck carbon out of the air, and adopt radical geoengineering solutions, provided they come with minimal environmental risk. <\/p>\n

We will definitely have to deploy carbon capture and storage, provided it\u2019s not merely a lifeline for Big Oil. Needless to say, we cannot afford to fall into the trap of \u201ctechno optimism\u201d. <\/p>\n

Tied into this must be nature-based solutions \u2013 the largely forgotten, cheaper alternative \u2013 including reforestation, habitat restoration (especially wetlands in the Irish context) and land use rebalanced in multiple ways where farmers are at the forefront and rewarded adequately for playing a vital role in regeneration. We have yet to fully answer the question: how does Ireland fit in here exactly? <\/p>\n

This is not an encapsulation of impossible options, it is to reassert that the world, and by extension Ireland, has the required solutions. This is where the emphasis should be, rather than focusing on a possible future breakthrough that might tick many boxes. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Only two years left to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees target, scientists warnOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The \u201cto do list\u201d should not be cause for despair though there isn\u2019t much time, given most climate scientists would say the brakes need to be applied with vigour and backed by collaboration across borders as we are hurtling towards climate chaos and, arguably, entering an unpredictable phase where we do not know for certain how Planet Earth may respond to sustained overheating. <\/p>\n

All these steps are required. They amount to \u201csystemic change\u201d; the great cliche of climate activists. The writer Margaret Atwood has described it more aptly as \u201ceverything change\u201d … envisioning \u201ca future without oil\u201d and weaning off all fossil fuels in a quick but orderly way. <\/p>\n

These actions will be disruptive and inconvenient but ultimately taken together they are in the best interests of humanity and Planet Earth. On push through, they provide multiple benefits, notably healthier societies and more sustainable economies. The returns can come quickly, notably in reducing average global temperatures and bringing them back down to safer levels, towards the key 1.5 degree threshold set under the Paris Agreement. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Fossil fuel dependence \u2018is Ireland\u2019s biggest block\u2019 to achieving carbon emissions cutsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Low-level implementation or weakening of commitments means climate tipping points become an immediate issue, the breaching of thresholds in the Earth\u2019s climate system where a small amount of additional warming can trigger large-scale, rapid and irreversible changes, such as the melting of polar ice caps (with dramatic consequences for sea-level rise), shifts in ocean currents or dieback of rainforests. <\/p>\n

As high winds from the latest storm to hit Ireland whistles in our ears \u2013 another extreme weather event probably made worse by global warming \u2013 it is a gentle reminder of the course we should be taking. It couldn\u2019t be clearer. <\/p>\n

Kevin O\u2019Sullivan is a co-author of Supergrid Super Solution on creating a supergrid in Europe and an environmental consultant <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Having worked on the climate newsbeat for almost a decade, it was easy to notice a recurring trend.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":261713,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[269],"tags":[289,134622,442,444,18,440,5009,19,17,3618,9951,961,23494,133],"class_list":{"0":"post-261712","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-artificial-intelligence","9":"tag-bogs","10":"tag-climate-change","11":"tag-data-centres","12":"tag-eire","13":"tag-environment","14":"tag-forestry","15":"tag-ie","16":"tag-ireland","17":"tag-nature","18":"tag-oil","19":"tag-renewable-energy","20":"tag-renewables","21":"tag-science"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261712"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261712\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/261713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}