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Eamon Ryan earmarks €18 million for climate funds as COP27 enters second week

The minister for climate has arrived in Egypt for the climate conference.

THE MINISTER FOR Climate has earmarked €18 million for specific climate funds to support countries most vulnerable to the climate crisis.

Minister Eamon Ryan is in Egypt this week for COP27, a major climate conference where negotiators are deliberating on new international climate commitments.

The conference is entering its second week in the coastal city of Sharm El-Sheikh and faces pressure from experts to deliver a significant promise from developed, high-emitting countries to support vulnerable countries experiencing losses and damages due to the climate crisis.

Ireland has pledged to increase its international climate finance to €225 million by 2025, which will include the €18 million outlined by Minister Ryan today.

However, the key focus for campaigners is the establishment of an international finance facility dedicated to funding loss and damage supports, rather than relatively small finance allocations on a country by country basis.

Such a facility was proposed last year at COP26 in Glasgow but was not backed by the EU or the US. 

Developed countries must also cut their greenhouse gas emissions to curtail the growing destruction hitting vulnerable, low-emitting countries the hardest.

The funding confirmed by Minister Ryan this morning includes €5 million of the €10 million for the Global Shield announced by the Taoiseach.

Three-fifths of the total amount is €11 million for the Global Environment Fund, an asset management fund investing in clean energy. It also includes €1 million for the Special Climate Change Fund to support adaptation action in small island developing states and €1 million for the Climate and Clean Air Coalition. 

Last week, Taoiseach Micheál Martin attended the COP27 World Leaders Summit, where he announced €10 million for the Global Shield initiative, a finance-protection programme targeted at countries under threat from the climate crisis.

However, activists criticised the move because the funding relates to financial institutions like insurance rather than directly targeting the impacts of the climate crisis.

Nils Mollema, Climate Justice Policy Advisor at Action Aid, explained that the Global Shield “is an initiative by the German government with the G7, the biggest economies of the world, together with a relatively small group of climate-vulnerable countries”.

“The outcome that has come out of it is mostly an insurance structure in which a whole different heap of financial sources get put together into an insurance system for a handful of those countries,” he said.

“We’re happy to see that Ireland is recognising the need for loss and damage but we’re quite disappointed that the donation is going to end up at the Global Shield. It’s our conviction that insurance, especially when it’s Northern subsidies going to Northern insurance companies, is unlikely to reach those most vulnerable.”

Instead, there should be a “facility that is built and structured in such a way that it is easy to access, that it is quick to access and doesn’t add an extra burden on top of people when they’re already suffering”, he said.

In a statement today, Minister Ryan said that loss and damage is a priority for Ireland at this COP and that “we are committed to supporting the most vulnerable who continue to be the most exposed to climate change”.

“Urgent action is required to protect our planet and our people from further climate-induced devastation,” he said.

“This means staying true to the science, delivering immediate and rapid reductions in emissions through an accelerated clean energy transition, breaking our dependence on fossil fuels as well as scaling up of climate finance, including for loss and damage in ways that meet the needs of the furthest behind first.”

He said that the new Climate Action Plan will be published in the coming weeks and “will set out how we will achieve reductions across key sectors to ensure that we deliver on our commitments under the Paris Agreement”.

The minister is due to a Global Shield meeting later today and a session of the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance, a small coalition of countries trying to phase out oil and gas production of which Ireland is a member.

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Our aim at The Journal is to produce reliable, meaningful, independent news and make it available to everyone. Our commitment to covering the climate crisis and what it means for all of us is an important part of that mission. We have built a dedicated climate action team who will be covering COP27 in Egypt this month. Their original and thoughtful reporting from Sharm El Sheikh will be free to everyone. This is intentional: we believe as many people as possible should be able to access accurate, insightful information on climate and environmental concerns.

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    Mute James Johnson
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    Apr 18th 2023, 2:14 PM

    I need to Transition to the Warm weather in France or Spain. How much do we get?

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    Mute eoin fitzpatrick
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    Apr 18th 2023, 1:58 PM

    It’s funny how Journal commenters just go on the attack when ever there’s a mention of climate change.
    I’m assuming this kind of funding will help olive farmers in Spain where their crops were totally devastated last year, producing almost 50% less than usual.
    Or maybe our own farmers who had a fodder crisis caused by weather events in 2012/2013 and needed to be bailed out by the taxpayer. These kinds of crises are predicted to become more and more common.
    Or maybe logistics companies on the Rhine last summer who couldn’t move anything because the river ran almost completely dry in parts.
    But yes it’s all a scam by Eamon Ryan so you’ll have to live in communist 15 minute cities.

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    Mute Donal Ronan
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    Apr 18th 2023, 4:24 PM

    ‘through auctioning industrial emissions allowances’
    Who do you think is going to pay for this? They are just copying the Greens playbook, more taxes or costs.
    Still waiting for Eamon Ryan to tell us where the hundreds of thousands of Green jobs have been created in Ireland.

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    Mute Pat Barry
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    Apr 18th 2023, 6:42 PM

    That’s over half of the EU budget ffs, is it any wonder the Brits left.

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    Mute Ned
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    Apr 18th 2023, 4:06 PM

    Nothing new there, dreamers all of them.

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    Mute David Mercedes
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    Apr 18th 2023, 5:54 PM

    Another comment deleted for pointing out the truth, no free press in Ireland.

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    Mute declan hassett
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    Apr 18th 2023, 6:07 PM

    @David Mercedes: I get a free paper in cork , it’s sh#*¥E but it’s free.

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    Mute declan hassett
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    Apr 18th 2023, 6:37 PM

    @087mail: I would have if he had one

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    Mute Pat Barry
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    Apr 18th 2023, 7:26 PM

    “Together, we will make Europe the first climate neutral continent” – Before Africa and Antarctica, yeah, dream on Ursula Andress!

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    Mute P. V. Aglue
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    Apr 18th 2023, 3:12 PM

    They’ll buy a lot of firepower with that.

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    Mute JC O'Connachain
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    Apr 18th 2023, 1:29 PM

    I hope the funds for developing countries actually start happening too, to the promised levels. Steps away from fossil fuels are starting in developed countries but developing countries like India, with a population that nearly 20% of the world, really need the funds as they are going to become more harmful to the climate as they copy our lifestyles when they become developed countries

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