Centre for Climate and Society Annual Conference

Deirdre McCarthy, Managing Director, RTÉ News & Current Affairs, said that RTÉ is focused on finding different ways to tell the climate change story and have added another question to the ‘who, what, where, when, why and how of journalistic questions’: what now? This will help frame the discussion of climate change and biodiversity loss in a positive, meaningful way for the public and give people a sense of agency. There is also a need for climate literacy training for reporters and editors and to embed climate coverage across all desks. She said that “we need to move beyond covering climate change related stories as they happen and develop ways to lead and provide comprehensive coverage in day to day news” 365 days a year.  

Lauren Boland, Reporter with a focus on climate at The Journal, said that a challenge is pushing back against lies and misinformation about climate change. She said that in any stories she writes about climate change she always tries to include why it matters, especially if individual sacrifice might be involved. “It’s easy to get lost in the small details but it’s important to zoom out and give readers the context of why we’re having these discussions, what we stand to lose if we don’t take action, and what we stand to gain if we do.”

Kevin O’Sullivan, Environment and Science Editor at The Irish Times, noted how biodiversity did not have enough coverage in the media in Ireland. He pointed out the complexity of the challenge our planet is facing, suggesting the media can play a much bigger role in strengthening the response to the “poli-crisis” we all are facing. The climate crisis, biodiversity loss, water pollution, and the energy crisis are all inter-connected issues we are all conscious of, yet we have made little progress on them. Having broader coverage of these environmental issues is essential and the key to crafting more effective solutions, he said. 

Dr Johannes Karl, Assistant Professor in the DCU School of Psychology, noted that generally all human beings like nature, but that not all people behave in a way that is environmentally friendly. He suggested that it is all about communication and values. People all behave according to different value systems, so it is essential to note that as the climate and biodiversity crises are a global phenomenon, people all belong to a wide range of different contexts and come with their own individual experiences. Policy-making needs to take into account the plurality of contexts in which policies are shared, interpreted, and understood, in order to be more effective in engaging people in climate and biodiversity action.

Dr Aoife O’Grady, Head of Zero Emission Vehicles Ireland, Department of Transport, pointed out the difference between climate action plans and the reality. She said that behavioural change in terms of transport is very hard, and therefore the policy-making and the policy delivery are difficult. For instance, she mentioned that in 2020, despite travel curtailment due to COVID-19, reduction in emissions was less than 17%. Finding a balance between short-term delivery and long-term systemic change presents some challenges. Electrification of fleets by 2030 will play a huge part in carbon abatement in Ireland, however the total electrification of vehicles requires a huge amount of rare earth resources which are not sufficient, raising a global biodiversity issue.

Dr Liam Lysaght, Centre Director at the National Biodiversity Data Centre, noted how public policy around biodiversity has increased over the last few years. However, despite the policy response, he said there is little evidence that biodiversity loss and climate change are being decelerated or stopped. Very often the terms ‘climate’ and ‘biodiversity’ are used interchangeably, but we should put much more attention on these two different and equally important environmental aspects. The risk is that the climate action happening might not include specific biodiversity targets, resulting in an increase in biodiversity loss. He then suggested biodiversity policy be more science-based, which would be able to measure through data how effective the implemented policy is.

Karen Ciesielski, CEO at the Irish Environmental Network, said the participation of society as a whole in public debates and in policy-making is essential to build a path towards positive change. Civil society organisations play a significant role in developing and advancing sustainable policy, thus a collaborative approach is key to achieve the balance between the three pillars of sustainable development, which encompass social, environmental, and economic aspects. “Policy-making processes must be open, inclusive, and transparent, with clear and widely accessible information sharing, and also consistent frameworks for participation and engagement,” she said.

Dr John MacNamara, Corporate Sustainability Lead at Bord na Móna, pointed out the degree of lacuna on the side of data reporting and about measuring the impact of business on nature and vice versa. He noted however the shift of Bord na Móna toward a more green approach over the last few years which embraced three main pillars: the circular economy, remediation of the pit lands, and renewable energy of the business.

Marc Aboud, Sustainability Risk and Regulatory Lead with Deloitte Ireland, emphasised the importance of understanding the complexity of the rapidly evolving regulatory landscape around climate and biodiversity and what that means for businesses. At the moment, organisations do not have all the information to understand how their business impacts nature and how nature impacts their business, which means that corporates generally know that something has to be done, but not where to start. The lacuna in how to report and measure nature and biodiversity loss is one of the factors explaining what makes regulations so difficult to understand and comply with. Further, the regulatory landscape has so far mainly focused on climate and societal issues, leaving broader environmental matters like biodiversity aside.

Dr Fabiola Schneider, Assistant Professor in the DCU Business School, noted that the biggest drive at the moment is regulation. She introduced the EU Green Taxonomy, an initiative set by the European Union which aims at defining, through data, what makes an economic activity green. This initiative has the potential to play a huge part in defining how to report and measure nature and biodiversity loss, making the regulatory landscape more accessible for businesses when it comes to complying with sustainability regulations. The EU Green Taxonomy, in defining its six main objectives, recognises biodiversity on the same level as climate. However, biodiversity poses a certain degree of challenge as it cannot be measured through standard global data. Specific local factors need to be considered, making it difficult to come up with general indicators.

Paul Harris, Sustainable Product Innovation Lead at the Bank of Ireland, said he believes that the corporate response to climate change and biodiversity loss is inadequate, suggesting the need for a more business-friendly terminology to achieve nature-positive targets. For instance, he noted that terms such as ‘nature’ and ‘biodiversity’ are considered too abstract for corporates, whereas adopting business language would translate into a more concrete engagement in action on the side of businesses and financial institutions. “In the last 50 years, we have lost 50% of our ecosystem. Businesses rely on goods and services provided by those ecosystems which are essential and irreplaceable. So ecosystem services have a significant economic value and present a material financial risk if they are degraded.” He noted that corporates do understand climate change and biodiversity loss, but they need to leave behind the scientific and ecological terminology in order to cope with such issues with a business lens that requires more concreteness.