iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Gavan Reilly @gavreilly.com · 13h

…and Russia gets fresh revenue for its war effort

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Hannah Daly @hannahdaly.ie · 19h

We have a new pre-print for open peer-review on EGU. "Towards a national integrated model for land, energy, agriculture and forest systems (TIM-LEAF v1.0)" describes a new integrated modelling framework led by Neha Jaggeshar as part of our EPA-funded SELFS project.

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John Gibbons 🇵🇸 🇺🇦 🇪🇺 @thinkorswim.bsky.social · 20h

Sparks flew on this week's Last Word on the Environment as I lambasted this govt's spineless u-turn on carbon taxes in #Budget2027 and its unforgivable backsliding on #climate, as the world literally burns. www.todayfm.com/podcasts/the...

todayfm.com

The Last Word On Environment With John Gibbons

John Gibbons joins The Last Word to delve into why the 2027 Budget is a disaster for Ireland's climate targets.To listen to the full chat, press 'PLAY' on th...

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Environmental Pillar @envpillar.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Environmental law is being unravelled at EU level & nature needs your voice! We demand that our European leaders defend the laws that protect people & nature, not bow to polluters & vested interests. Speak up for nature – sign the Hands Off Nature petition www.environmentalpillar.ie/hands-off-na...

environmentalpillar.ie

Hands OFF Nature! - The Environmental Pillar

Europe - Don’t turn your back on nature! Behind the EU’s ‘simplification’ agenda, crucial environmental safeguards are being quietly dismantled. We’re not calling deregulation by name, but the reality...

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Paul Price @swimsure.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

I attended this pesticides conference on behalf of Environmental Justice Network Ireland (EJNI) @ejni.bsky.social to inform further research and advisory work focused on all-island and transboundary water & air pollution.

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Paul Price @swimsure.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Ireland & Council of the EU are pushing the 'Omnibus' proposal that will increase pesticide risks to the public and nature. Scientists have been ringing the alarm but the politicians pushing it —Fine Gael (EPP) and Fianna Fáil (Renew)—would rather listen to chemicals & agri-food industry lobbyists.

Screenshot of first page text from the 25 June 2026 Science journal article, 'EU Omnibus proposal increases pesticide risks', by Wintermantel et al..

Science link: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aeg8744

Open source link: https://pollinera-horizon.eu/storage/app/uploads/public/6a4/cd2/3b8/6a4cd23b81334056251798.pdf#file_name=EU%20Omnibus%20proposal%20increases%20pesticide%20risks.pdf

Text highlighted (by Paul Price):

"Here, we explain how implementing the Omnibus package would amplify rather than resolve shortcomings of current environmental risk assessment. This would jeopardize the Omnibus’s goal to maintain high standards for the protection of human and environmental health, as well as the EU’s long-term environmental objectives and international commitments to restore ecosystems."

"We provide actionable recommendations for improving environmental risk assessment for stronger biodiversity protection while limiting regulatory burden."

"The Omnibus proposal’s amendments to Regulation 1107/2009 would exacerbate shortcomings of the current environmental risk assessment and approval system"

"This would raise the prospect of aforementioned risk assessment gaps and leave many substances untested under new methodologies..."

"Unlike time-bound renewals, all three leave discretion over how many and which substances are assessed, creating room for political or economic considerations to influence reassessment decisions. As the stated goal of the Omnibus is reducing regulatory burden, the overall volume of assessment would likely be considerably reduced."

"The Omnibus specifies criteria for selecting substances for renewal or targeted reassessment, but these would neither make reassessment obligatory nor function as effective triggers."

"Rather than fostering sustainability and innovation, as claimed in the Omnibus, the removal of time-bound substance renewals would slow the identification of harmful substances and prolong their use"

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Paul Price @swimsure.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Meanwhile, contrary to scientists' recommendations, led by the current Irish Presidency, the Council of the EU (Member State Governments] has just agreed to proceed with rapid 'simplification', claiming "less red tape" (meaning, less pesticide regulation). www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/pre...

consilium.europa.eu

Council agrees negotiating stance to simplify and streamline food and feed safety requirements

Council sets its position to simplify and streamline food and feed safety requirements.

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Paul Price @swimsure.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Letter to the European Parliament signed by 573 scientists: "We respectfully ask that the debate be paused until a rigorous, independent assessment of the OMNIBUS X proposal related to health, environmental and administrative consequences has been carried out." www.pan-europe.info/blog/over-50...

pan-europe.info

Over 500 scientists call for impact assessment before easing pesticide rules

In a letter sent today, over 500 scientists, practitioners, and public health and environmental officials have raised concerns about the rapid pace for the Food and Feed Safety Omnibus, the EU Commiss...

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Paul Price @swimsure.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Scientists: 'EU Omnibus proposal increases pesticide risks' –"implementing the Omnibus package would amplify rather than resolve shortcomings of current environmental risk assessment" ⬇️ Open access link to the scientists' June 2026 article in the journal Science. pollinera-horizon.eu/storage/app/...

pollinera-horizon.eu

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Paul Price @swimsure.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

This conference made it VERY clear why we have to act NOW to prevent EU/MS removal of nature & health protections. 🇪🇺 Lobby MEPs to *stop* the Omnibus Simplification package; 🇮🇪 Lobby TDs & Sen's to fully fund the Nature Restoration Plan. ⬇️ Conf. slides & recording www.pan-europe.info/events/confe...

pan-europe.info

Protect our Health, Water & Biodiversity from Pesticides

Hosted by The Environmental Forum, Pesticide Action Network Europe, Sustainable Water Network (SWAN) and Environmental Pillar. Where: The Gibson Hotel (Point Square, North Wall, Dublin, D01 X2P2, Irel...

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Paul Price @swimsure.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Margaret Hamilton: "it is better to define your system up front to minimise errors, rather than producing a bunch of code that then has to be corrected with patches on patches. It’s a message that seems to have gone unheeded" [MH's death reported yesterday] www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

theguardian.com

Margaret Hamilton: ‘They worried that the men might rebel. They didn’t’

The trailblazing computer scientist on being in charge of the software for the 1969 Apollo moon landing

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Not Here Not Anywhere @nhna.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Ireland cannot “credibly take leadership on a fossil fuel phase-out while simultaneously pushing new fossil fuel infrastructure and ever-expanding energy demand driven through the proliferation of data centres” …or while cutting carbon taxes! www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-41...

irishexaminer.com

Ireland to miss climate targets with renewable energy being 'cannibalised by data centres'

Ireland could not 'credibly take leadership on a fossil fuel phase-out while simultaneously pushing new fossil fuel infrastructure and ever-expanding energy demand driven through the proliferation of ...

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Irish Doctors for the Environment @irishdocsenv.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

People need assistance during this fuel crisis, but this is not the way to do it. Government has bowed to pressure from right wing lobbyists that chain us to fossil fuel dependence. The debt for this will be paid in human health and wellbeing. www.rte.ie/news/budget-...

rte.ie

Carbon tax on home heating oil and gas to be reduced

The Minister for Finance Simon Harris said that carbon tax on on home heating oil and gas is being reduced and will not increase again in the lifetime of this Government.

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Oisin Coghlan @oisinc.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

This iconic photo of Bertie Ahern in the Tolka flood waters in 2002, was taken by Colin Keegan, who died in traffic collision last Saturday. Colin was kind enough to let us use the photo for free in the first postcard campaign I ran in @foeireland.bsky.social in 2005. May he rest in peace.

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Paul Price @swimsure.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

We're repeatedly told by politicians and industry that "Ireland feeds the world" with its dairy and beef exports. Tell that to those who will go hungry as food prices rise.

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Paul Price @swimsure.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

As per quoted statement, CSO plus fuel tax removal.

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Paul Price @swimsure.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Carbon Tracker webinar on "Trucking's Tipping Point" confirms @thinkorswim.bsky.social points. –Electrification of trucks already arriving fast. –UK freight operator reports his (positive) early experience of EV truck cost & policy: grid connections are a key issue. www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Sqj...

youtube.com

Trucking's Tipping Point: Are Markets Underpricing the Electric-Truck Transition?

YouTube video by Carbon Tracker Initiative

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John Gibbons 🇵🇸 🇺🇦 🇪🇺 @thinkorswim.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Ireland's chronic over-dependence on HGVs for freight leaves us at mercy of every fuel crisis & cutting diesel prices is only a short-term salve. We need to shift to rail freight & electrify our HGV fleet, as I explain in @irishexaminer.bsky.social today. www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/comm...

irishexaminer.com

Subsidies for diesel are lost money when electric trucks are the future

Pumping taxpayers' money into diesel-guzzling trucks is fair to nobody when we should be subsidising companies to transition to electric vehicles

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Paul Price @swimsure.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

"On a per capita basis, Ireland is subsidising fossil fuels at a rate up to 5 times the EU average." "The total fossil fuel subsidy figure for 2026 may well now be more than €6 billion." Compare: the new Children’s Hospital cost €2.24 billion & the total Education Budget for 2026 is €13.5 billion.

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Kevin Anderson @kevinclimate.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

The CCC @thecccuk.bsky.social offers Heathrow a thumbs up, conditional on the massive deployment of “snake oil” technologies (SAF & GGR). Report by Tyndall researchers, building on UK Govt commitments, science & maths, reaches a very different conclusion. See: climateuncensored.com/heathrow-exp...

climateuncensored.com

Heathrow Expansion: The Physics Does Not Negotiate - Climate Uncensored

Below is the foreword I wrote for my Tyndall colleagues’ detailed and rigorous report examining whether further expansion of Heathrow can be reconciled with

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Philip Boucher-Hayes @philipb-h.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Ireland imports 80% of its wheat. Not great food security. Concentration on livestock farming elbowed Irish wheat out. Imported wheat and flour add considerably to the cost of living crisis. But new crop science opens the door to Irish grown wheat. Listen: 👉 www.rte.ie/listen/clip/...

rte.ie

Food Security: Bread

Only the tiniest fraction of the flour needed to bake the 50kg of bread we eat a year is grown and milled in Ireland, and the cost of what we import is sky rocketing. We take a look at what needs to b...

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Willard @climateball.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

The answer to "has global warming accelerated?" is "considerably". agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...

Recent record-hot years have caused discussion over whether global warming has accelerated. Previous analysis found acceleration (i.e., increase in warming rate) has not yet reached a 95% confidence level, given natural temperature variability. We remove the estimated influence of three main natural variability factors: El Niño, volcanism, and solar variation. The resulting adjusted and thus less “noisy” data show that there has been acceleration with over 98% confidence, with faster warming over the last 10+ years than during any previous decade.

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An Taisce @antaisce.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

An Taisce is also calling for greater support for public transport, including Leap card credits and a reversal of the recent increase in general transport fares. extra.ie/2026/10/03/n...

extra.ie

An Taisce calls for fuel supports for those in need and at risk of fuel poverty

An Taisce has warned that Ireland is subsidising fossil fuel use at up to five times the EU average.

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Prof. Stefan Rahmstorf @rahmstorf.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Big Oil remains the most significant obstacle to reducing emissions and limiting climate harms. It’s important to understand the long history of that.

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Jeff Berardelli @weatherprof.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

The water vapor concentration in the atmosphere may be approx 13% higher this winter than around 1950. More moisture = heavier downpours.

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Hannah Daly @hannahdaly.ie · 01/10/2026

My column in The Irish Times today is about heating oil, and how policy can deal with the awful pain facing households depending on it to heat their homes this winter. www.irishtimes.com/environment/...

irishtimes.com

Cutting fuel taxation in the budget does nothing to cure the disease

Households need help to break free from home heating oil for good

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John Gibbons 🇵🇸 🇺🇦 🇪🇺 @thinkorswim.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Bang on the money from Diarmaid Ferriter today : Irish govt still mouthing platitudes about #climate while the world burns down around us. Hope it’s not true when they say we get the politicians we deserve. www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2026...

irishtimes.com

Diarmaid Ferriter: Weather whiplash leaves us with no illusions about the reality of climate change

And yet the Government is still speaking out of both sides of its mouth

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Hannah Daly @hannahdaly.ie · 02/10/2026

This is a great explainer, thanks for sharing it. My head is still absolutely reeling from reading this deep dive into what Anthropic thinks of Claude's "mind" and potential for moral character, which I find abhorrent. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/29/u...

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Paul Price @swimsure.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

"Today's AIs already have the necessary hacking skills & powers of persuasion to be turned against human interests in seriously harmful ways." "This suggests pacing advances: not training or deploying AIs without a strong safety case that convinces independent experts...AIs that are safe by design."

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John Gibbons 🇵🇸 🇺🇦 🇪🇺 @thinkorswim.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Pod of this week’s Last Word on the environment with Matt Cooper now available. We discussed UK tree planting proposals, accelerated glacier melting plus global oceans heating rapidly, and I pleaded with Irish Rail for proper illuminated signage at DART stations. www.todayfm.com/podcasts/the...

todayfm.com

Half A Million Trees To Be Planted In England – Should Ireland Do The Same?

Local authorities in England are set to receive funding to plant half a million trees in the next three years for protection against extreme weather conditio...

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John Gibbons 🇵🇸 🇺🇦 🇪🇺 @thinkorswim.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Updated Google Maps (2023, left & 2026, right) imagery from Gaza portray utter devastation wrought on a once-teeming society. With civilian death toll far beyond 100,000, Israeli genocide on Gaza is one of best-documented war crimes in history, yet Ireland is Israel's 2nd biggest trade partner.

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Prof Ian Hall @ianhall.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Swiss glaciers suffer 'disastrous' year of ice loss, threatening water supplies "…in its simplest form, what we see right now is that we took an ice cube out of the fridge and it's just melting in front of our eyes." www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

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Kieran Ryan @kieranryan.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

We're in a proper Covid wave here in Ireland at the moment with a significant number of hospitalisations each week. Flu cases are ramping up too. For all the recent news coverage of the flu vaccine shortages, there has been very little public acknowledgement of this Covid wave.

A screengrab of Ireland's public health respiratory virus tracker showing a big increase in Covid and flu cases over the past week.

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Paul Price @swimsure.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

"Ending Fossil Power", the latest report from Stop Climate Chaos Ireland. –Data shows Ireland far off track from meeting climate commitments so urgent action needed. –Climate Action Plan is now long-overdue –Government is actively evading climate obligations. www.stopclimatechaos.ie/news/2026/09...

stopclimatechaos.ie

Ending Fossil Power | Stop Climate Chaos

Stop Climate Chaos launch their latest report Government must urgently act to close Ireland’s widening emissions gap, new report warns Recent data shows that Ireland needs urgent change of tack to &#8...

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Paul Price @swimsure.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Jaw-dropping doublespeak by Ireland's climate action Minister Darragh O'Brien: “We’re not going to hit our 2030 target but that does not reduce our ambition in that regard”. 🇮🇪 ambition *is* the 2030 target, so not hitting it [read, missing it by a large margin] *is* reducing ambition in that regard.

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Environmental Pillar @envpillar.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Stop Climate Chaos & Environmental Pillar wrote to Minister O’Brien ahead of the Informal Meeting of EU energy ministers setting out priorities for energy affordability, energy efficiency & renewables & energy security by cutting dependence on fossil fuels www.environmentalpillar.ie/app/uploads/...

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John Gibbons 🇵🇸 🇺🇦 🇪🇺 @thinkorswim.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Why yes, of course you can build out your gigantic 72,500 m2 energy and resource-sucking data centre, but be sure to “encourage staff to use public transport, cycling & walking”. Beyond parody from the crack squad at An Coimisiún Pleanala. www.irishtimes.com/business/202...

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Paul Price @swimsure.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Walking Wicklow-Greystones yesterday, the speed of coastal erosion toward the railway— hastened by accelerating sea level rise—was starkly apparent vs last year. As pointed out to Irish Rail engineers, the protection plan does not account for revised SLR projection. The rail line has to move inland.

Photo looking north showing the railway and adjacent coastal erosion between Wicklow and Greystones.

Photo of railway fence posts undermined by coastal erosion between Wicklow and Greystones.

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Maynooth University Social Sciences Institute (MUSSI) @mu-ssi.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

New report: How We All Pay for Big Tech examines the economic, social and environmental costs of data centre expansion in Ireland. By Seán Fearon, @pbresnihan.bsky.social & Patrick Brodie. Read more: bit.ly/4jlJ5ak #DataCentres #Research #Energy #DigitalInfrastructure

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Barry McMullin @autofac.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Note to EU: Canada under Carney is NOT a "reliable ally" in the single most pressing challenge we are facing.

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Paul Price @swimsure.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

It's utterly foolish to equate high input pastured beef and dairy—undermining food security—with efficient *food* producton. Have to wonder if knowledgeable farmers believe such nonsense. And where are the agri academics & Teagasc researchers to rebut the misinformaton. Their silence is deafening.

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John Gibbons 🇵🇸 🇺🇦 🇪🇺 @thinkorswim.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

In a word: no. In two words: definitely not. Agri press moves from #climate denial to delusional complacency instead. Not sure this is progress. www.agriland.ie/farming-news...

agriland.ie

Opinion: Could climate change be a good news story for Irish agriculture?

Meanwhile, food security levels in the European Union continue to falter

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Patrick Bresnihan @pbresnihan.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Ireland has highest domestic electricity bills in Europe, directly linked to runaway growth in data centres since 2015. Ireland could be a world leader in clean energy, which would insulate us from energy price volatility. These are policy decisions. www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2026...

irishtimes.com

Households ‘put on the hook’ for cost of data centre expansion to electricity grid

Irish consumers pay disproportionately more for electricity than large data centres, report suggests

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Paul Price @swimsure.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Back from enjoyable ferry break to Cherbourg & the adjacent Cotentin Peninsula for some great cycling, sea swimming, & awesome patisserie. Climate related: a big purpose-built wind farm supply area in the harbour; supermarket parking with raised solar PV (720 panels), tiny cars, bike contraflows.

Photo of Cherbourg harbour wind farm supply area.

Photo of Cherbourg supermarket parking lot with four, raised solar PV arrays (720 panels)

Photo of a Cherbourg town street. Notable absence of street furniture! Almost all one-way streets expicitly allow bike contraflow.

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Róisín Moriarty @roisinmoriarty.com · 17/09/2026

Great news!

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Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.blacksky.app · 14/07/2026

"Ireland's Enterprise Minister Peter Burke attended a private dinner with tech giant Meta at the US ambassador’s residence in February to discuss the “digital agenda for Ireland’s EU presidency,” amid a US drive to soften Europe’s policing of big tech." www.independent.ie/business/min...

independent.ie

Minister dined with Meta lobbyists at US ambassador’s residence amid US drive to soften Europe’s policing of big tech

Peter Burke’s intimate dinner with the tech giant’s reps was aimed at discussing ‘the digital agenda for Ireland’s EU presidency’

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Paul Price @swimsure.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

It's deeply misleading to say Ireland stayed within its first carbon budget *without* stating the caveats making the claim deeply misleading. Yet here Prof. Brian Ó Gallachóír does so. In my opinion that's poor science communication. The caveats: climate-change-and-ireland.ghost.io/did-ireland-...

climate-change-and-ireland.ghost.io

Did Ireland meet Carbon Budget 1? Some key caveats and why CB2 is the real policy test

In July EPA issued its report on Ireland’s Provisional Greenhouse Gas Emissions 1990-2025, stating that the first statutory five-year carbon budget (CB1) of 295 MtCO2e, covering 2021–2025 had been met...

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