Ireland is falling far short of the hundreds of millions promised to help developing nations weather the ravages of climate crisis, says Christian Aid.
The international development charity is calling on the government to step up to the plate and urgently increase its contributions.
Former Taoiseach Micheál Martin promised to scale up our International Climate Finance to €225 million a year by 2025 at COP26 Glasgow in November 2021.
READ MORE - Irish scientist's climate change warning: failure to act 'will reverberate for thousands of years'
Christian Aid and Trocaire believe the commitment doesn’t even meet a fifth (18 per cent) of the €545 million that research suggests Ireland should be providing to meet our fair share of the global target.
And according to new Department of Foreign Affairs figures, Ireland contributed €99.6 million in climate finance in 2021 and €88.3 million in 2020.
Christian Aid Ireland’s Policy and Advocacy Officer, Ross Fitzpatrick, said: "The scale and severity of the climate crisis means moving at a snail’s pace in the right direction is not good enough and raises real concerns about our willingness to live up to our international commitments.
"The Irish government must urgently increase its climate finance contributions to support developing countries already struggling to cope with the climate crisis’ worst effects or risk failing on a key global justice component of the Paris Agreement."
Developing nations that contributed least to global greenhouse gas emissions are suffering the worst impacts of the climate crisis.
We recently reported from Somalia, where the Federal Ministry of Health & Human Services, WHO and UNICEF estimate drought and near famine conditions have killed 43,000 in 2022, half of whom were children under five. Malawi is another African country reeling from the impact of extreme weather.
It was recently hit by Cyclone Freddy, which lasted 34 days, killing over 500 people and forcing 560,000 more from their homes.
A recent UN report found African countries are having to spend between 2-9 per cent of their budgets to respond to extreme weather.
Yet the continent, home to over 1.4 billion people, is responsible for less than 4 per cent of historic global emissions. Fitzpatrick, who attended the COP27 climate summit in Egypt in November, added: "As a member of the UN committee tasked with getting the Loss and Damage fund up and running, the Irish government should push for high carbon-emitting countries most responsible for climate change, and most able to pay, to provide the new and additional funding needed."
Ireland’s international climate finance has increased 40 per cent overall between 2016 and 2021.
Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Micheál Martin, said: "The devastation brought about by the recent Tropical Cyclone Freddy in southeast Africa drives home, in no uncertain terms, the cruel realities of climate change. Those who have done the least to cause this crisis are the ones being hit the hardest by its impacts.
"The latest UN IPCC report, published last week, underscores the importance of climate finance in tackling the climate crisis and in protecting the most climate-vulnerable communities around the world."
READ NEXT:
- Ireland weather: Thundery downpours expected today as expert pinpoints return of spring conditions
- Family of pitbull attack victim welcome new laws cracking down on dangerous dogs
- Paul O’Grady dead: Tributes to comic with ‘strong Irish heritage’ after ‘unexpected’ death aged 67
- Killer Graham Dwyer's female visitor, whom he claimed was his 'girlfriend', broke off contact in 2020
- Dutch commentator who Kellie Harrington tweeted controversial video of backs boxer
Get news updates direct to your inbox by signing up to our daily newsletter here
