EARLIER THIS MONTH, The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, released its sixth report on global climate change.

This latest report made for stark reading. Among the things it highlighted was that the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was higher in 2019 than any other time in at least two million years.

It found that human-induced climate change is already affecting many weather and climate extremes in every region across the globe – this means heatwaves, floods and droughts, all of which we have been seeing in countries lately. 

The IPCC said that “deep reductions” in carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas emissions are crucial to prevent the planet from warming by more than 1.5 or 2 degrees Celsius.

This week on the podcast, we look at the next steps for Ireland: what can the country do to reduce the impact of climate change going forward? To talk us through it, our guest is journalist John Gibbons, whose work you’ll have seen in our Voices op-ed section.

And our reporter Lauren Boland talks us through who puts together the IPCC report, and what its main findings were.

https://soundcloud.com/the-explainer-podcast/is-ireland-doing-enough-to-fight-climate-change/s-U5VzcoIzgZk

This episode was put together by presenter Aoife Barry (standing in this week for Sinéad O’Carroll), and producers Aoife Barry and Nicky Ryan.