Irish climate minister: not enough progress made at COP26

“There hasn’t been enough progress to date either here or at the 25 preceding COPs”, Ireland’s Minister for Transport, Environment, Climate and Communications, Eamon Ryan said at the COP26 climate summit on Monday, broadcaster RTÉ reported.

Ryan only arrived at the COP26 climate summit Monday after he first tested positive, then negative for COVID-19.

“The non-governmental bodies were right to call that out at marches at the weekend”, said Ryan in reference to protests held across the city in recent days. “We’ve got to be impatient for progress,” he added.

Monday, which was the summit’s Adaptation, Loss and Damage Day, saw Ireland announce a commitment of €10 million to the international adaptation fund over the next year.

Ireland also signed its support for the High Ambition Coalition (HAC), a group chaired by the Republic of the Marshall Islands focused on achieving the 1.5C global heating cap set out in the 2015 Paris Agreement.

HAC members gathered on Monday for an event which saw former US President Barack Obama warn that meeting the coalition’s goal was vital: “The brutal tempests of the warming climate are making even clearer that we cross that line at our peril”, he said.

(Molly Killeen | EURACTIV.com)