Mary Robinson speaks at DCU conference on climate justice

The fourth annual DCU centre for climate and society conference was held today, April 16th, on the theme of climate justice across generations. Held at The Helix on the DCU campus, attendees heard from a wide range of speakers including a keynote address from former President of Ireland and Chair of the Elders Mary Robinson, a panel discussion between participants of the Children and Young People’s Assembly on Biodiversity Loss, and an address from Ella Saltmarshe, co-founder of The Long Time Project, speaking on intergenerational climate justice.

Long-view leadership

During her keynote address, Mary Robinson spoke about the importance of “long-view leadership” to the existential threats we are facing globally today. This means looking beyond short-term political cycles and recognising the need for collaboration and compromise to implement bold solutions to global challenges, including the climate crisis. 

Robinson believes we are on the cusp of a clean energy, safer, fairer world, but we are not moving fast enough. In order to combat the powerful fossil fuel lobby and successfully transition our energy systems to renewable energy, we need to know our own power to get clean energy at the grassroots level. There are people working in different areas to achieve the same aim, but they are not connected. 

“We are on the cusp of a clean energy, safer, fairer world” – Mary Robinson

In order to inspire connection and bring people together to move away from fossil fuels, Robinson has started the Project Dandelion movement, a women-led global campaign for climate justice. 

Robinson also spoke about the importance of leadership at the local authority and city level to achieve a just transition, with an emphasis on retrofitting houses and regenerating biodiversity.

At Zero Together, we are working to find ways to bring that connection among communities, organisations, businesses and institutions in Dublin to achieve a shared aim of moving away from fossil fuels. Find out how to get involved.

Harnessing a period of transition

The conference also heard from a panel of speakers on how policy can address long term climate inequities. Róisín Greaney, Climate Justice Researcher and Community Engagement Coordinator at TASC (Think-Tank for Action on Social Change), spoke of the need to harness this period of transition to address inequity in society and improve the standard of living. It is important to consider how we are implementing climate action, as the way we implement climate action will determine whether communities are further burdened, or uplifted as a result of climate policy.

Other topics covered at the conference include the Children and Young People’s Assembly on Biodiversity Loss, how the business world can embrace a long-term perspective in its decision making, and the challenge of reporting on the long-term effects of climate change in newsrooms that move fast.