Dear John,

This is where it gets really interesting. The abstract debate on emissions targets is over. Now it’s time for action. It’s an emergency. And we need the Government to act like it.

Ministers will soon publish the first Action Plan under the new climate law we all campaigned so long and hard for.

And they’re asking what you want them to do to cut pollution. The public consultation is open until Tuesday 20th September.

We know we need to raise our voices for climate action, because there’ll be plenty of vested interests asking for special exemptions and delays.

But this is also our chance to think creatively and radically about the kind of Ireland we want to build over the next 8 years and beyond.

Stop Climate Chaos member organisation Friends of the Earth has some ideas for you to look at. In fact, with a couple of clicks, you can support their 12-step programme to eliminate emissions and cut costs by submitting it to the public consultation.

You can also edit the e-action to add your own ideas and leave out some (or all!) of what’s already written. Or go a step further and just use Friends of the Earth’s suggestions as a jumping off point for writing your own submission and emailing it in manually to the consultation address.

This is the time for big ideas and radical action. The targets are set but Irish emissions are rising not falling. 

We are seeing what climate breakdown looks like in stark terms around the world. Not just the heatwaves in Europe this summer but the awful floods in Pakistan and the deadly drought in the Horn of Africa. We know that every tenth of a degree of warming matters, that every tonne of emissions counts and that everything we do can make a difference.

And this is just the beginning. When the consultation is over the campaigning for a strong Action Plan will just be ramping up. There’ll be another month to influence the Government’s decisions on what goes into the Plan. 

Our experience around the sectoral targets over the summer shows that we need to be talking to TDs about climate. They need to hear from people who want bold action at the scale we need. So do the media, who so often fall into the false balance of “both sides-ism” about climate action in a way they rarely did around Covid. We also need to take to the streets to show our support for ambitious climate action - there will be a big march in Dublin before the Action Plan is published.

Meantime don’t forget to fire in a submission! Use the e-action to do it in minutes if you’re short on time!

We are now in the race of a lifetime. The race to eliminate emissions fast enough to prevent complete climate breakdown and fairly enough to leave no one behind. The race to zero emissions and zero energy poverty.

Let’s get going,

Oisín

P.S. Every submission we make to the Climate Action Plan consultation will add to the pressure for the Government to step up action. Why not forward this email to anyone you know who is interested in climate action but hasn’t been sure how to get involved.

Stop Climate Chaos is a coalition of civil society organizations campaigning to ensure Ireland does its fair share to tackle the causes and consequences of climate change.