Statement by Ireland at the Chairpersonship's High-Level Conference on Climate Change
Ireland would like to extend its sincere appreciation to the Maltese Chairpersonship of the OSCE for hosting the second iteration of the High-Level Climate Conference. Your proactive leadership of this organisation and commitment to ensuring its resilience are commendable and we thank you for gathering together such an interesting and distinguished group of climate policy makers.
As highlighted by your initiative, the OSCE is in a strong position to provide leadership and contribute its unique expertise to addressing the climate-security nexus. The salience of the link between climate change and security has never been clearer and will only continue to grow. The OSCE has a strong mandate to address this nexus, as agreed by our leaders in the 2021 Stockholm Ministerial Council decision. We particularly welcome the initiative’s focus on building the capacity of young people to engage in climate negotiations. As the future of climate diplomacy, the voices of young people must guide our approach to tackling this issue.
Unfortunately, Russia’s ongoing war of aggression against Ukraine has demonstrated the inextricable link between conflict and environment degradation all too clearly. It must be stressed that the extensive damage to Ukraine’s natural environment will have implications for generations to come. We commend Ukraine for its commitment to continue to work towards its climate objectives, in the face of the continued targeting of its energy infrastructure by Russia.
As part of the response to the climate crisis in its own domestic context, Ireland has adopted a National Adaptation Framework, the second iteration of which was published just earlier this month. In Ireland, as elsewhere, these risks include extreme weather events, flooding, drought, loss of biodiversity, sea level rise and increased temperatures. The NAF sets out the national strategy to reduce the vulnerability of the country to the negative effects of climate change.
The National Adaptation Framework outlines a whole-of-government and society approach to adapt to climate risks, and aims to improve the enabling environment for adaptation through ongoing engagement with civil society, the private sector, and the research community.
As well as committing to reaching net zero emissions by 2050, Ireland recognises that addressing climate impacts is a global challenge, and that some of the poorest countries are suffering the most extreme impacts. As such, Ireland has committed to providing €225 million in international climate financing per year by 2025, with a particular emphasis on gender-sensitive and locally led climate action. The importance of civil society in tackling climate change cannot be overstated, particularly their role in advocating for a range of diverse perspectives to be reflected in national and international action, ensuring that no one is left behind.
In closing, please let me reiterate our congratulations to Malta for an excellent conference and our thanks to the speakers for their insightful contributions. Our delegation leaves inspired to continue these discussions in Vienna and to pass on all we have learned to our colleagues. Thank you.