{"id":291283,"date":"2026-02-10T22:52:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T22:52:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/291283\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T22:52:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T22:52:12","slug":"falling-short-of-climate-targets-doesnt-mean-they-are-unattainable-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/291283\/","title":{"rendered":"Falling short of climate targets doesn\u2019t mean they are unattainable \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Sir, &#8211; John Leahy (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/environment\/climate-crisis\/2026\/02\/07\/are-paris-agreement-targets-unachievable\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/environment\/climate-crisis\/2026\/02\/07\/are-paris-agreement-targets-unachievable\/\">Letters, February 7th<\/a>) argues that we spend billions in vain to reach the \u201cunachievable\u201d targets of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/paris-agreement\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/paris-agreement\/\">Paris Agreement<\/a> and that the Government should refocus all efforts and resources to climate adaptation and resilience. This approach, however, turns its back on the health and wellbeing of not only our nation, but the rest of the world. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">While it is true that many other northern European countries will fall short of their agreements, this does not mean that the Paris Agreement targets are unattainable \u2013 it is merely symptomatic of a lack of political will to do so. Our Government, however, displays wavering, contradictory action in this regard, back-pedalling on climate projects as they are \u201ctoo controversial\u201d, lifting the passenger cap at Dublin Airport, failing to address our rising agri-sector emissions or adequately develop our public and active transport networks. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Ireland has the second-highest greenhouse gas emissions per capita in the EU, but also the second-highest GDP per capita. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Meanwhile, countries facing more immediate climate risks \u2013 often with fewer financial resources \u2013 are demonstrating stronger commitment to climate action. From large-scale renewable implementation in Spain to ambitious mitigation pathways in countries such as Costa Rica and The Gambia, the issue is not feasibility, but priority. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Climate adaptation and mitigation must be implemented in tandem, and requires full commitment and investment from Government. The cost of climate change on our health is already apparent in the recent damage to homes and businesses caused by flooding. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">We have two options: either pay by investing in climate projects that benefit the wellbeing of the nation, or pay billions in fines to the EU. We are polluters, and we will pay one way or another \u2013 including with our health. \u2013 Yours, etc.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Orlagh Gaynor,<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Drogheda, <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Co Louth<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sir, &#8211; John Leahy (Letters, February 7th) argues that we spend billions in vain to reach the \u201cunachievable\u201d&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17772,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[2885,25815,246,61,60,39639,82],"class_list":["post-291283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-climate-change","tag-climate-sustainability","tag-environment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-letter-of-the-day","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291283\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}