Dublin is to stage its first “climate week” from September 13th, to showcase how the region is embarking on climate action. The project is also intended to foster collective engagement, especially at community level, in building a sustainable capital.
More than 70 events are being staged to share knowledge and highlight best practice according to the organisers – the four Dublin local authorities; Dublin Climate Action Regional Office (CARO) and Dublin's energy agency, Codema.
With large cities increasingly being seen as critical to addressing the climate crisis, Dublin is scaling up its response, according to Anthony McNamara, climate Action officer in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, who is also chair of Dublin Climate Week steering group.
While there is a perception the city is coming late to this compared to obvious leaders in Europe, he said climate action was "gathering pace" while Dublin's citizens were increasingly indicating they want to support meaningful action. "Dublin Climate Week is an opportunity to show what we are doing well," he added.
While people were aware of the need for climate mitigation by reducing emissions and saving energy, they were less familiar with adaptation issues and the need to be climate resilient, including work on addressing the threat from flooding, coastal erosion and sea level rise.
They react to extreme weather events “but don’t see good incremental work being done” on adapting to the inevitable impacts of climate disruption, he believed.
Climate action plans for Dublin highlight it is especially vulnerable to future risks due to the projected population growth over coming years and its coastal location at the mouth of a large estuary.
This increased risk of flooding, they note, will affect the region’s already vulnerable systems, in terms of increased pressure on water and sanitation systems, and damage to critical infrastructure and property.
These issues will feature prominently during the week while the “Dublin Region Energy Master Plan” will also be unveiled. The programme includes webinars on building sustainable energy communities and on deploying low-carbon district heating hosted by Codema, and demonstrations on how nature-based solutions can play a part.
It also focuses on "women in energy" and features a discussion on the implications of the recent landmark report from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change with Prof Peter Thorne of Maynooth University, who made a major contribution to the document as a lead author.
All events are free – but registration is required through www.dublinclimateactionweek.ie
