Ireland's State of the Environment Report 2024

107 Chapter 4: Climate Change Until recently, climate action in Ireland has focused on reducing emissions, with less attention being given to adapting to ongoing and future climate impacts. Given the reality of climate change, we need a much stronger focus on adaptation to ensure the resilience of our homes, infrastructure and communities. Extreme weather events such as flooding and storms have exposed an adaptation deficit in Ireland. The impacts of climate change and extreme events can cascade from one sector to another; for example, impacts on energy supply can cascade into health services, transport or commercial activities. It is therefore important that risks are assessed in an integrated way. Actions taken now to reduce vulnerability and exposure and increase resilience will shape the future and should be seen as investments rather than short-term costs. The development of Ireland’s first NCCRA will inform adaptation planning and decision-making. Immediate and sustained transformative mitigation and adaptation actions are likely to yield substantial benefits for health, wellbeing, the economy and biodiversity in Ireland, while reducing vulnerability to the adverse impacts of climate change. The transition to a climate-neutral and climate-resilient society requires an integrated response that ensures fairness and a just transition for all. While there will be many opportunities in the transition, there will be challenges for some. Transition and transformation can be enabled through adopting a holistic and systemic way of thinking; developing an integrated long-term vision; addressing fragmented governance; capacity building and broad stakeholder engagement; and enabling a strong social contract with citizens and communities. Finance is an important enabler of transitions and transformations, and public policy can set the conditions to steer investment in societally agreed directions. Public engagement and participation in the development and implementation of policy and climate action is essential. The genuine concerns that people have must be identified and addressed, and vulnerable populations must be identified, included and protected.