The Climate Column
A Climate-focused news page, curated by Ireland’s Climate Youth Delegates.
NYCI Updates
(What’s happening more locally?)
1. Applications to be Ireland’s next Climate Youth Delegate (2025-2026) are OPEN!
✅ Do you live on the island of Ireland?
✅ Are you between the ages of 18-25?
✅ Do you have a passion for climate action & youth inclusion?
👉 READ MORE & APPLY HERE!
Applications are open until 12pm GMT on 18th of March 2025.
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2. Webinar outcomes: What happened at COP29?
On Tuesday 25th February, we were joined by fantastic Irish youth activists who attended COP29, or advocated from home for climate justice at the conference. The recording can be accessed here, and you can learn about our speakers here.
What is XYZ?
(Terminology Buster!)
Climate Word of the Month: Mitigation
Mitigation is described by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (the UN body for climate science) as ‘human intervention to reduce the sources or enhance the sinks of greenhouse gases’. It focuses on reducing or preventing greenhouse gas emissions and the causes of climate change.
This means that ‘mitigation’ is what humans can do to lower the levels of greenhouse gases (such as carbon dioxide) entering our atmosphere. In terms of mitigation, this often focuses on stopping or reducing greenhouse gases from being released in the first place, or removing greenhouse gases that are already in our atmosphere by planting more native trees or re-wetting boglands – both of which can help absorb greenhouse gases and keep them out of our atmosphere.
Fossil fuels are the biggest contributor to global climate change, accounting for over 75% of global greenhouse gas emissions and nearly 90% of all carbon dioxide emissions.
“COP” (standing for “Conference Of Parties”) is the international conference on climate change, and Ministers from many countries come together each year to discuss issues like mitigation together at this conference. The number after ‘COP’ stands for how many meetings there have been. COP29 concluded in Azerbaijan in November 2024, and COP30 is upcoming in Brazil in November 2025.
At COP26, in 2021, countries agreed to create a Mitigation Work Programme (MWP). The aim was to ‘scale up mitigation ambition and implementation’, essentially to make more progress on mitigating (reducing the causes of) the climate crisis.
At COP28, in 2023, countries agreed to include the words ‘fossil fuels’ in a COP agreement for the very first time (after 28 COPs, or 29 years). They agreed to ‘transition away’ from fossil fuels. The inclusion of fossil fuels, the dominant cause of the climate crisis, for the first time was a positive first step but many criticised the agreement for not creating a strong enough commitment to stop using fossil fuels as soon as possible in a fair and equitable (fair and just) way.
Civil society (Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and similar groups) and youth were advocating for an equitable fossil fuel phase out, which means that we stop using fossil fuels by a defined date and transition (move) to renewable and low-carbon ways of generating energy, in a fair way that doesn’t harm vulnerable communities. For example, this might include making sure that communities who are reliant on the fossil fuel industry for jobs can be supported to find jobs in renewable energy and that they are not badly affected financially.
At COP29 in December 2024, the only major outcome on mitigation was that countries will continue discussions, but no new commitment was reached.
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Further resources:
Carbon Brief – summary of key COP29 outcomes
UNFCCC: Introduction to mitigation
UN: Causes and Effects of Climate Change
Climate Rundown
(What’s happening atm?)
The news stories below are shared to give a taste of how climate has come up in the news in the last month, it is not an endorsement of any of the content included.
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Ireland: RTE – Storm Éowyn: A precursor to the extreme climate risks that lie ahead – Storm Éowyn left many communities devastated by strong winds, coastal floods, electricity outages, and caused unprecedented damage and disruption to people’s everyday lives.
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Science: Carbon Brief- Atmospheric CO2 rise now exceeding IPCC 1.5C pathways – Limiting global warming to a 1.5oC increase from pre-industrial levels is a core international goal. However, experts warn that the amount of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere is increasing so fast that it risks our ability to limit global warming. To limit warming, the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere needs to slow down, stop and then reverse. Despite this, the amount of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere are still growing and in 2024 the rise of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was the fastest on record.
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Policy: RTE – Almost all nations miss UN deadline for new climate targets – Under the Paris Agreement (one of the 3 big international climate agreements), all countries have to submit targets for reducing their emissions (these are called Nationally Determined Contributions, or NDCs). The deadline for the new round of plans was 10 February, but only 10 out of nearly 200 countries submitted their plan on time. The EU has not yet submitted its plan.
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Positive climate news: Carbon Brief – EU solar and wind growth pushes fossil-fuel power to lowest level in 40 years – Coal power in the EU has fallen by 61% in the last 10 years, while solar and wind power have tripled and doubled respectively in the same period. Dr. Chris Rosslowe told Carbon Brief ‘While the EU’s electricity transition has moved faster than anyone expected in the last five years, further progress cannot be taken for granted…However, the achievements of the past five years should instil confidence that, with continued drive and commitment, challenges can be overcome and a more secure energy future be achieved.’
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Want to know more? Carbon Brief offers regular newsletters with summaries of climate news from around the world.
Opportunities Corner
Jobs, events & more!
This section is intended to share opportunities in the climate sector, none of the opportunities below are vetted or endorsed by us.
Have an opportunity you’d like us to share? Email climateyouthdelegateireland@gmail.com or message @climateyouthdelegate.irl on Instagram.
______________ VOLUNTARY ______________
Join the movement – Friends of the Earth
- Friends of the Earth’s website includes a range of different groups you can get in touch with to work with.
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Greenpeace International – Employee Experience Intern
- Based in the Netherlands, with hybrid working in Amsterdam
- 1 intern to start Mid April; 1 intern to start in September
- Students or recent graduates
- €800 net monthly stipend
- Closes 16th March 23:59 (CEST)
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Generation Climate Europe – trainers for ‘From Action to Elections: Sparking Youth Mobilisation in Europe’
- Eligibility: experience in non-formal education methods, especially with young people, and experience in delivering engaging online trainings, preferably internationally
- €300 per session
- Email resumé and letter explaining your relevant experience, alongside which session(s) you want to lead. Send these to Chloé Salmon at gencempowerment@gceurope.org by April 1st, 11:59pm CET.
- More information here
Interested in learning more about the Climate Youth Delegate Programme?
Click the button below to read about the programme, and to meet Ireland’s Climate Youth Delegates!
Climate & UN Youth Delegate Publications
APPLY NOW to become Ireland’s Nomination for the European Union-United Nations Youth Delegate Programme 2026-2027
Applications are open until 5pm (Irish time) on Sunday 22nd March 2026. Young people living in the Republic of Ireland are invited to apply for a chance to represent young […]
National Youth Consultation on Human Rights with Ireland’s UN Youth Delegates
Photo: Abe Neihum / ANPMstudios.com On Thursday 19th February, 80 young people gathered from all across Ireland for NYCI's National Youth Consultation on Human Rights. They […]
Apply Now to Become Ireland’s next UN Youth Delegate 2026-2027
Young people from every country are invited to apply for the chance to represent Ireland at the UN.
Deadline: Sunday 29th of March 2026, 5pm