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IRELAND IS HARBOURING a dirty fossil fuel secret, and it’s time we confronted it. While we may not drill for oil, mine coal, or produce gas, Ireland has become a tax-friendly financial gateway for some of the most destructive industries on the planet, making us complicit in fuelling the global climate emergency.
A new report released today, titled The Hidden Truth: Ireland’s Role in the Global Fossil Fuel Industry and based on research by ActionAid Ireland and Trócaire, reveals that as of June 2024, an astonishing €31 billion in fossil fuel investments were held by Irish-based financial institutions. Even more disturbing, 91% of that investment is tied to companies actively expanding fossil fuel operations in direct defiance of international scientific consensus on the need to limit global warming to 1.5°C.
Trócaire and ActionAid witness the unequal impact of the climate crisis in the communities we work with every day, who are on the frontlines of the climate crisis, despite contributing the least to its causes. This is a profound climate injustice. Devastating floods, storms, cyclones, droughts, famine, biodiversity loss and ecosystem breakdowns are having a disastrous impact on the lives of billions of people worldwide.
Climate disasters leave a litany of human rights impacts as livelihoods are destroyed, including disproportionately harming young girls and their access to education. 12-year-old Miriam from rural Guatemala and her family had their income decimated by a recent drought, which destroyed their crops. Miriam was due to go to secondary school, an hour drive away, but her parents cannot now afford the €5 a week for the bus that would take her there.
Fossil fuels — coal, oil, and gas — account for over 75% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and nearly 90% of carbon dioxide emissions. They are the primary driver of climate change. But for investors, they remain staggeringly profitable, both for companies and their investors. That’s why billions continue to be funnelled through Ireland to the very companies accelerating planetary collapse.
Our report names some of the financial heavyweights with significant fossil fuel-related holdings domiciled in Ireland. The top three firms are: BlackRock (€18.4 billion), State Street (€4.3 billion) and Crédit Agricole (€2.1 billion).
Ireland’s status as a conduit for climate-wrecking capital is the result of deliberate policy decisions and the outcome of our Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) model and weak national and EU regulations.
The Irish government argues that financial flows are regulated under EU directives. But these frameworks are woefully inadequate. They focus on transparency and minimal incentives for greener investments, not on curbing fossil fuel financing. Even those modest rules are now under threat, as the European Commission rolls back green finance and corporate sustainability initiatives, just as global fossil fuel use and emissions reach record highs.
Far from transitioning, the fossil fuel industry is entrenching itself, and so are its investors. Our report reveals that BlackRock, which had over €18 billion in fossil fuel investments routed through Ireland in 2024, is also pulling back on previous sustainability pledges.
There is no credible path to climate justice if financial flows to fossil fuels, including those channelled through Ireland, are not stopped. This means direct regulation of financial institutions, requiring them to adopt and implement transition plans aligned with the Paris Agreement.
Ireland has both a responsibility and an opportunity to lead. By ending its role as an enabler of destructive fossil fuel investments and regulating investment through a lens of human rights and environmental due diligence, we can begin to put justice and sustainability at the centre of our financial system.
Given its position as a hub for multinational financial institutions, we are calling on the Government to regulate the private financial sector to align with the goals of the Paris Agreement and end our outsized role as an enabler of fossil fuel investment. This includes prohibiting investments in projects that expand coal, oil, and gas production, as well as investments in the companies behind the expansion.
Ireland should also introduce a strong gender-responsive national human rights and environmental due diligence framework that contributes to a global just transition. Such a law should include the regulation of investors with respect to human rights and the environment and climate.
Globally, we should support the creation of a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty to halt expansion and ensure a fair, funded global phase-out of fossil fuels. In addition, new taxes at both the EU and national levels can mobilise funds for climate justice, including wealth taxes, climate damage taxes on investors, and levies on aviation and shipping.
And we can support debt cancellation and advocate for a UN framework for sovereign debt to give countries on the frontline of the climate crisis the breathing room to address the crisis.
Currently, the climate crisis is accelerating faster than political action to curb climate breakdown. Without urgent structural transformation, including a rapid global phase-out of fossil fuels, the world is on track for 2.6°C to 3.1°C of warming by 2100. Scientists have warned that this trajectory would be catastrophic, rendering vast regions uninhabitable.
Ireland has the power to become a leader in climate justice. We can no longer afford to look away while billions flow through our financial system into the industries destroying our planet. It’s time to stop fuelling climate chaos and to start building a future that’s fair and sustainable for all.
Caoimhe de Barra is CEO of Trócaire and Karol Balfe is CEO of ActionAid Ireland. Both INGO’s support communities in the Global South impacted by climate change, and campaign for climate justice.
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Who makes this kinda stuff up? I really don’t understand the mentality of the type of people who would go out of their way to play on people’s fears with a view to stealing from them (information, bank details, whatever).
@lambda sensor: I agree, but if it is a text message it should have a source number so the telephone operators should be able to pass on the information to the gardai. I assume it is an offence to impersonate a government or state (or any) organisation.
Jail without access to the internet for the duration to these scam individuals. If coming from abroad then block the foriegn operators numbers from all texts and calls to Ireland
The telecom operators can be very quick to protect themselves but are lacking in protecting it’s customs. Bet they could stop all texts with the link in it and other scams but for some reason they seem slow to act. Yet social media platforms can stop the spread and remove stuff if needed.
@Niall Ó Cofaigh: There are many SIM card providers out there now so it would be very difficult to track things back to the source. With GSM cards being so cheap and easy to use plus the availability of GSM application SIM cards it is a very simple thing to setup a PC controlled system which will spit out messages all day. Those messages are not even sent from a standard off the shelf phone.
@David Corrigan:
If it is a foreign network, block the whole network and tell them to figure it out…
@David Corrigan: I have no doubt that they are almost certainly run from a device and not single composed messages in most cases and might be hard to trace back – ISP logs could help. But even if the guys could not be stopped the mobile operators could stop messages based upon content unless they have now encrypted plain text messages. We can then go to the ISP to block access to that link. Or do what they did in the USA, do a DNS redirected.
When telecom sites were replicated and phishing sites created to mimic them these sites were blocked or unhosted within 30 minutes – so it is possible to block access and prevent too much harm being done.
@Niall Ó Cofaigh: it can be configured in a way that you only see the name of the sender (the name they give themselves) like when you get a text message from your bank with a one time password to login. The sender in turn can be located abroad.
@Niall Ó Cofaigh: the whole world is seeing cyber theft and scams it is not unique to telcos that you allege ( wrongly ) that are sitting back and not taking action – there is an enormous amount of money and effort and resources spent by operators to try shut down scams – unfortunately once the the internet has been opened to all the smartfones then these challenges get more and more difficult – it is not as straight forward as blocking a call ( I work in this field )
Surely the network operators can block this fake information from circulating .
@Eug J Cummins: Would be next to impossible to do this.
@David Corrigan: block mass commercial texts that use the term HSE that are not from an authorised sender
@Eug J Cummins: They can (and used to many years ago) but wont now.
It would actually be straightforward, but would block advertising companies. These are sent by international SMS relays, and it would take 5 seconds to turn on a block if no number or name present.
Ah any close contact of a positive case would know this is fake . 24 days not one call from HSE. Luckily I contacted my contacts myself . Everybody in same circumstances should do it . If you know you’ve been exposed , contact the people you were with and tell them to quarantine and call their GP. Same if you’re a positive case . Otherwise it’s “ waiting for Godot”.
Those f@#£ers should be shot with balls of there own s#%T
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