Conference: The Climate Challenge: Policy, Media and Society
To mark in inaugural year of DCU’s Msc in Climate Change: Policy, Media and Society, a one-day conference will take place on Friday 8th February to explore social responses to climate change in Ireland and internationally across the arenas of politics, policy, communications and education.
The conference will feature contributions from DCU academics as well as an array of international and national experts. It will also include keynote address from:
Dr Hans Bruyninckx, Executive Director of the European Environment Agency
Ms Hildegard Naughton, TD, chair of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action
The conference takes place against the backdrop of increasingly stark warnings from climate scientists, particularly the IPCC report on Global Warming of 1.5ºC. The recent COP24 climate conference in Katowice succeeded in agreeing a set of rules to implement the Paris Agreement on climate change, though important decisions around raising ambition were deferred. Here in Ireland, the government has acknowledged that Ireland is off track, but Minister Richard Bruton has committed to introducing a whole-of-government climate plan in February 2019. The Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action will report by the end of January on how to strengthen Ireland's response to climate change. Meanwhile, also in January the High Court will consider a case brought by Friends of the Irish Environment challenging the adequacy of Ireland's 2017 National Mitigation Plan.
This conference will provide a timely opportunity to reflect on these important developments at international and national level.