On November 29th, our colleagues at the Irish Climate Science Forum (ICSF) sent a letter to the Irish government leaders in reponse to the Irish Climate Action Plan: “ICSF sees that the Government is set to embark on a Climate Action Plan which, though well intentioned, is unfortunately misinformed on many scientific, engineering and economic aspects. This misinformed situation has arisen due to ”group-think” predicated on an imagined “climate emergency.”

The letter concludes: “The ICSF wishes for a sustainable future, but climate/energy policy should not be a knee-jerk reaction to an imagined “climate emergency”. Instead, it should be based on rigorous climate science plus economic, engineering and social pragmatism, focused on prudent adaptation to whatever modest climate trends emerge in the coming decades. Climate/energy initiatives need also to allow due allocation of scarce national economic resources to pressing needs in healthcare, personal wellbeing, housing, infrastructure upgrades, youth unemployment, immigrant support and poverty alleviation, thus providing real social justice in the broader sense.”

Read the full letter here