Ireland's State of the Environment Report 2024

103 Chapter 4: Climate Change This novel way of looking at climate audiences strongly counters prevailing narratives of urban-rural divides in attitudes towards climate change, with both urban and rural residents found in all four of the climate audiences. Urban and rural respondents have similar views about the importance of climate change (Figure 14.15) and show similar levels of support for climate change mitigation and adaptation policies. Likewise, key employment categories (e.g. farmers) are not substantially different from the rest of the population in terms of their views on climate change. The interactive climate opinion maps bring the data from the Climate Change in the Irish Mind study to life. At the national level, these maps show a consistent picture across the country of high levels of understanding about climate change and support for climate action, with little variation depending on where people live. We see a picture of attitudes, behaviours and policy preferences with regard to climate change across counties and regions that are closely aligned with high levels of awareness and worry about climate change in each area. While the evidence is largely consistent across the country, there are minor regional variations in the levels of concern about climate risks with, for example, slightly more people worried about water shortages in Dublin and the mid-east region than in other regions. In addition, somewhat more people are worried about severe storms in the west, mid-west, and south-west regions. These spatial variations align with known environmental risks in these areas. Figure 4.15  Climate opinion map showing response to ‘Are you worried about climate change?’ Source: www.epa.ie/our-services/monitoring--assessment/ climate-change/climate-opinion-maps/ 7. Finance Finance and climate action Achieving national, EU and international climate action objectives requires aligning the financial system with these goals to drive the transition while continuing to support economic activity and societal development. Stewardship of the climate transition for the financial system must manage finance flows and risks related to both the transition to net zero, and the costs of physical risks from climate impacts. Achieving net zero by 2050 is now recognised as being the lowest cost option for society, the economy and the financial system for mitigating the effects of climate change (Central Bank of Ireland, 2024). While the achievement of a climate- neutral and resilient economy will incur costs that need to be managed, there will also be opportunities for sustainable growth, for example Ireland having the potential to become a net exporter of energy by 2050. Finance flows Public and private finance flows can act as either drivers of or barriers to progress, and they will need to be decarbonised and de-risked appropriately to support the achievement of climate goals. Public finance The National Development Plan (NDP) 2021-2030 (DPER, 2021) continues the trend of placing a greater focus on the transition needed to address climate change. The plan is underpinned by the principle of green recovery in line with the European Green Deal (EC, 2019) and includes a climate and environmental assessment for the first time. The total investment under the NDP of €165 billion, much of which is related to climate-favourable expenditure, will be complemented by the Climate and Nature Fund, which is expected to grow to €14 billion by 2030 (Department of Finance, 2024). This spending should be managed to deliver co-benefits for climate, biodiversity and broader environmental outcomes to achieve the transition to a low-carbon and climate- resilient economy. Funding for planned investment over the coming years will also come from state- owned enterprises and semi-state bodies and through investment such as green bonds. Private finance Private finance will provide an important element of funding to achieve the transition, and a Europe-wide target of €279 billion by 2030 has been identified under the European Green Deal to put Europe on the path to achieving the economy-wide transformation envisaged