Friends of the Earth Ireland

Join us for an evening of inspiration, music, and meaningful dialogue in Dublin this Friday as we explore active hope and collective action. 🎵🌍✊ We're hosting an in-person panel event as part of our Learning Hub series, 'From Despair into Action' at 7pm in Teacher's Club, Dublin, on November 29th. Our Learning Hub series is a carefully curated space for discussion, critical thinking, peer education and building a sense of solidarity. At a time when climate despair can feel overwhelming, we at Friends of the Earth believe it is important to bring attention to active hope and collective action. 💚 📖 Together, we’ll draw inspiration from Rebecca Solnit and Thelma Young Lutunatabua’s book 'Not Too Late', a powerful reminder that “hope is not a lottery ticket you can sit on the sofa and clutch, feeling lucky. It is an axe you break down doors with in an emergency.” 📌 Sign up now for this event➡️ https://lnkd.in/eQgiJBBQ For this event we will be joined by panel speakers - 🟢 Prof. Mazin B. Qumsiyeh - head of Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability at Bethlehem University 🟢Lelo Mary Thebe - Zimbabwe-born Healing Justice facilitator and writer 🟢Eoghan Daltun - Irish rainforest rewilder and author 🎸We will also have live music performed by singer songwriter Sive (Sadhbh O’Sullivan). Join us as we dive into the pressing climate justice issues that are at the heart of our movement. This event is a chance to reignite our hope and strengthen our resolve, even in moments when the world feels overwhelming. ⏰Barely two days left to register. Sign up now! Don’t miss your chance to join us, be inspired and connect with others who are working to create change. 💚🤝

🚨Learn each political party’s stance on LNG in Ireland!🚨 Finding out political parties' stance on LNG—which can often get lost in the midst of all the tall and lofty claims they come up with amid election campaigning—is particularly significant in the aftermath of the recent High Court decision on Shannon LNG and the Government’s last-minute amendments to the Planning Bill. ❌ Don’t be deceived by the word ‘natural’ in liquefied natural gas (LNG)—it doesn’t make it any less dirty a fossil fuel than coal and oil. In fact, the science is clear that importing LNG is worse than burning coal!⚠️ 🔴 Allowing an LNG terminal like Shannon LNG in Kerry will result in continued fossil fuel dependence and high emissions, locking Ireland into polluting, expensive gas for decades to come. This is at a time when scientists deemed the internationally agreed goal to keep the world’s temperature rise below 1.5C “deader than a doornail”. Not to mention that our legally binding carbon budgets are at risk and Ireland is only on track to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 29% when a 51% reduction is needed by 2030. LNG expansion violates our human rights. LNG has devastating social and health impacts on the communities it touches. Think of communities in the US whose land, water and air is being contaminated by massive fracking operations. Or communities in Ireland faced with the prospect of having a polluting gas-filled terminal on their doorstep. We’re calling on the Govt to introduce a permanent legal ban on LNG import terminals of any kind. The Government must also respect existing policy that no LNG can be permitted while Government completes further analysis of all energy security measures, especially renewables and interconnection. Will you join us in urging the Government to ban LNG? ✊ 📌Take our e-action to urge the Government to prioritose faster and fairer climate action: https://lnkd.in/eMWmEQTz Our e-action urges candidates to commit to upholding our demands for faster and fairer climate action, of which stopping LNG forms a core part. We’ve only two more days until polling - will you act now? #LNG #ShannonLNG #GeneralElection #Ireland

1. 🏠 15 organisations, 1 goal: Warm homes for all. As energy bills soar and winter temperatures drop, we’ve come together to call for urgent, transformative action in the next Programme for Government. Our coalition’s 8 priorities include: ✅ A legally binding commitment to end energy poverty by 2030. ✅ Protecting tenants from cold, inefficient homes. ✅ Retrofitting all social housing by 2030. Read the full roadmap and join the conversation: [Insert Link] #EnergyPolicy #ClimateJustice #JustTransition 2. ❄️ No one in Ireland should face a winter in a cold home. Our coalition’s 8 priorities to guarantee warm homes for all focus on tackling the root causes: ✔️ Income inadequacy. ✔️ Inefficient housing. ✔️ High energy costs. Political parties must act now to include these priorities in the next Programme for Government. Learn more and take action here: [Insert Link] #EnergyPoverty #ClimateAction #PublicPolicy 3. 🔥 1 in 10 Irish households went without heating last year. The most vulnerable among us—renters, older people, single parents, and those with disabilities—face the greatest risk. Our coalition of 15 organisations is demanding urgent action from political leaders to ensure a just energy transition. Here’s what we’re asking for in the next Programme for Government: [Insert Link] #PolicyChange #EnergyJustice #WarmHomesForAll 4. ❄️ Ireland is facing another harsh winter of high energy bills and freezing temperatures. Vulnerable communities—renters, single parents, older people, and those with disabilities—are hit hardest. Our coalition has outlined 8 clear priorities to tackle energy poverty in the next Programme for Government: 1️⃣ Commit to ending energy poverty by 2030. 2️⃣ Expand retrofitting to low-income households. 3️⃣ Protect tenants from cold, inefficient homes. 4️⃣ Retrofit all social housing by 2030. …and more. We can build a better, warmer future for all. Read our full roadmap: https://lnkd.in/eMsGs8se #EnergyPolicy #ClimateAction #SocialJustice

My op-ed on climate action and renters in today's Examiner https://lnkd.in/eqCc-qdb Friends of the Earth Ireland

🚨Just a few days left to urge your TD to prioritise faster and fairer climate action! Take our e-action now to tell your TD that you are a climate voter!🌍✊🏾 📌Take our e-action: https://lnkd.in/eMWmEQTz ❗This election couldn’t come at a more crucial time—the internationally agreed goal to keep the world’s temperature rise below 1.5C is now “deader than a doornail”, with 2024 now certain to be the first individual year above this threshold. 🔴Not to mention that the COP29 in Azerbaijan is a big F U to climate justice, to the poorest communities who are on the frontlines of climate breakdown. As UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in July, “The era of global warming has ended; the era of global boiling has arrived … Leaders must lead. No more hesitancy. No more excuses. No more waiting for others to move first. There is simply no more time for that.” It’s so crucial that we urge our leaders to lead on the climate emergency we’re facing. We can still avoid the worst climate chaos, but only if we act now. 📌Taking our e-action today is a critical step in using our collective voice and people power for faster and fairer climate action!🌍 Our people power and collective action have helped us gain big wins against the fossil fuel industry before. Remember when our collective action helped secure a ban on fracking in Ireland? Let’s act again and achieve more! Now is the time to exercise our people power yet again to demand a Government for faster and fairer climate action! A few days ago, we held an election special climate hustings, where we grilled political parties on global boiling and their plans to fulfil our legally binding commitments to curb polluting emissions. (You can watch the full event here📽️ : https://lnkd.in/ezf9Trq8) Will you take our e-action and join us in grilling your candidates on their climate commitments? Act now: https://lnkd.in/eMWmEQTz #generalelections #ireland #climatejustice #activism #actnow

Data Centres are being allowed to drain our resources for the sake of private profit. At a time when we are seeing fossil fuelled climate breakdown across the world and a constant rise in energy poverty in Ireland, why is this Government giving Big Tech a free pass to devour our electricity supply and burn more and more gas? Energy for who? 🟢 Data centres soak up 21% of our electricity grid. This is more than all urban homes in Ireland - and predicted to grow to 30%. The EU average is 2%. Meanwhile energy prices in Ireland are one of the highest in Europe. 🟢 The Irish Government has put private Big Tech companies ahead of public good. Data centre expansion is increasing energy bills for householders, causing energy demand to soar as well as increasing burning of fossil fuels - pumping out more and more emissions while everyone else does their fair share to lower theirs. Energy for what? 🟢 Most of this growth is not for any public good. It’s for companies like Amazon to store advertising space and develop AI products that don’t have an essential use.  Generative AI is ten times more energy intensive than other web processes. Why are successive Irish governments turning Ireland into a data dumping ground without limits?  🟢 Data centres only create a handful of jobs in the communities where they are built and are mostly un-manned.  There are also serious concerns around data centres, human rights and trade rules: for example data storage space in Ireland is exported to countries with serious human rights abuses, such as Israel. A fairer energy transition that puts people and nature before profits is possible. To learn more 👇 https://lnkd.in/enMzBwqh #datacentres #climatejustice #fossilfuels #renewables

Political parties were grilled on global boiling and urged to fulfill their legally binding commitments to curb polluting emissions at our Climate and Environment Hustings in the Royal Irish Academy on November 20th. Candidates were challenged on climate issues ranging from liquefied natural gas (LNG), especially in the aftermath of the recent High Court decision to reconsider Shannon LNG’s plan to build an LNG gas terminal in Kerry; the expansion of energy and fossil fuel guzzling data centres in the country; enhanced and affordable public transport; energy poverty with a focus on retrofitting for the most marginalised; nature restoration; agriculture; carbon tax etc. It was a significant opportunity to urge the Government to treat the climate crisis like the emergency it is. Our hustings was also a chance for voters grappling with cost of living and other intersecting crises to know what climate policies political parties are proposing to improve their lives and tackle inequalities and injustices while curbing polluting emissions. Our Climate and Environmental Hustings was also particularly topical at a time when the internationally agreed goal to keep the world’s temperature rise below 1.5C is now “deader than a doornail”, with 2024 almost certain to be the first individual year above this threshold. As UN Secretary General António Guterres said in July, "The era of global warming has ended; the era of global boiling has arrived … Leaders must lead. No more hesitancy. No more excuses. No more waiting for others to move first. There is simply no more time for that." Here's our blog recapping the discussions of the day ➡ https://lnkd.in/eWsAK3xX You'll also find a link there where you can watch the full livestreamed recording of the hustings.📽 With just a week left to go until polling day, will you take our e-action and join us in grilling your candidates on their climate commitments? Act now and tell your TD that you're a climate voter➡ https://lnkd.in/eMWmEQTz #GE24 #ClimateJustice #Hustings #ClimateAction

European governments are using #COP29 to secure gas supplies, bringing at least 113 fossil fuel lobbyists with them to Baku to strike new gas deals. "How come they are more focused on helping the oil and gas industry than on keeping fossil fuels in the ground?" asks Fossil Free Politics coordinator Nathan Stewart. We need a firewall around the UN and EU climate decision-making to protect it from lobbyists! See our new research based on #KickBigPollutersOut's analysis: https://lnkd.in/dzMt56zB

Our next Government must prioritise faster and fairer climate action that leaves no one behind. We need policy change and investment that not only brings down emissions but also alleviates inequalities and injustices. 📃 We, at Friends of the Earth, have published a 5-point plan for the next Government to deliver faster and fairer climate action called 'Healthier and Fairer Communities For All'. You can read the full document here: https://lnkd.in/evNRCXBB We’re in this climate crisis because of the capitalist driven, unsustainable and destructive use of the earth’s resources - we cannot let corporate interests sabotage our commitments to the Climate Law and Paris Agreements. We demand a just and fair energy transition. ✊ Elections give people power. This election gives YOU power. Will you join us in telling the Government that we're climate voters - that we want our health and human rights to be prioritised? 📌 Take our e-action now that will let you do this in just a few clicks: https://lnkd.in/eMWmEQTz Now is the time to exercise our people power yet again to urge for a Government for faster and fairer climate action! 🌍 ✊ #GE24 #Ireland #Activism #Manifesto #ClimateJustice

Join us and the Feminist Communities for Climate Justice (FCCJ), a project of the National Women's Council (NWC) and Community Work Ireland, for an online webinar, 'Safe, Warm, Green: Towards Energy Justice' on Thursday, December 5th from 1pm to 2pm. This webinar will feature contributions from Cairde, Friends of the Earth Ireland and Comharchumann Fuinnimh Oileáin Árann Teo (Aran Islands Energy Co-Op). Book your place here: https://bit.ly/3V2EKMe