David and Goliath struggle playing out to stop Dublin Airport Authority expanding aviation at the expense of children's futures

Guest blog - by Children’s Rights Over Flights

Sign our petition here: https://my.uplift.ie/petitions/keep-the-dublin-airport-passenger-cap-help-protect-children-from-harm

In this age of increasing climate breakdown, Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) has applied to increase the cap on the number of passengers permitted to fly through Dublin Airport by a massive 25% - an expansion that would increase carbon emissions by an estimated 750,000 metric tonnes annually [i]. DAA is currently breaching the existing cap with impunity [ii].  This is an attack on our future. We cannot allow Goliath forces (the DAA, Ryanair, Aer Lingus, business lobby groups etc) to win this battle. These forces bombard us on an almost daily basis with their message that this increase is a must - making it sound almost inevitable. Making matters worse, the new Government has a stated objective of “lifting the passenger cap at Dublin airport as soon as possible” [iii]. On the other side of this fight against recklessly increasing pollution and for our children’s futures, is a small number of mostly volunteer and community groups including Children’s Rights Over Flights.

Background on the passenger “cap” application
There has been a “cap” of 32 million annual Dublin Airport passengers since 2007. It was a condition put in place when planning permission was granted for Terminal 2. At the time, environmental concerns were not the main reason for the cap (mainly it was concern about increased traffic), but fast-forward 18 years and now the rapidly deteriorating state of our climate is the paramount reason we need to keep and enforce this cap. It’s perhaps the only guardrail we have against further expansion of aviation at the airport - considering that international aviation emissions are not limited at all under Ireland’s Climate Act. The Act contains targets for other sectors, but no targets in relation to emissions from international aviation to/from Ireland.   While the passenger cap might be a pretty crude instrument to limit aviation emissions, (it doesn’t, for instance, address emissions from freight aviation), it’s essentially all we’ve got and it’s critical we keep this cap at least until such time as we’ve got something better - such as a limit on annual use of jet kerosene in Ireland - at a level which prevents the expansion of aviation.

It was in December 2023 that DAA applied to Fingal County Council to remove this guardrail - i.e. to raise the cap from 32 million to 40 million passengers. Their application has airport infrastructure elements to it also [iv], and the whole application is being reviewed by the Council. Signalling the DAA’s impatience to remove the guardrail, in December 2024 they submitted another interim application, focussed solely on raising the cap - to 36 million passengers this time. Fingal ruled the application as “inadequate and misleading” and declared it invalid [v] and DAA reapplied on 6th February [vi].

Expanding aviation is incompatible with a stable climate for our children. There is currently no scalable pathway to climate-safe aviation without substantial decreases in supply and demand[vii]. Aviation has a huge effect on global warming due to the huge quantity of emissions involved in every flight, and the fact they are emitted high in the atmosphere (contrails), which makes them even more damaging. The world needs to reduce aviation, not expand it, to protect ourselves and our children from worsening climate breakdown.  And small as Ireland is, Ireland's aviation industry has a very significant role to play in this struggle, with Dublin Airport currently centre-stage.

So called “Sustainable Aviation Fuel” (SAF) is not going to do the job - it takes massive amounts of land and resources to produce small amounts of SAF, much of which is, directly or indirectly, palm oil from tropical deforestation.  Hydrogen or electric planes won’t be ready technologically for decades.  The only way to reduce aviation pollution within the timeframe we need to save ourselves from climate chaos, is to reduce flights.  End of story.

[viii]

Other sectors are decreasing their emissions (although not by enough or fast enough), whereas if aviation continues with business-as-usual, aviation industry emissions are projected to continue to sky-rocket.

[ix]

During COVID, it was shown that reducing flights dramatically is very possible.  It just means treating the climate emergency as an emergency, which is how COVID was treated. 

The justice implications of aviation are stark. 

Only approximately 6% of people in the world fly in a single year [x].  While just one return transatlantic flight accounts for a climate impact equivalent to 3.2 tonnes of CO2 per passenger, an average person in Uganda emits just 1.1 tonne of greenhouse gasses in a whole year [xi].  The livelihoods and liveable climate future of people who do not fly at all are being destroyed by the relentless efforts to expand fossil-fueled industries, such as aviation.  Our children’s right to a liveable future is being sacrificed to allow a minority of people to fly, an even smaller minority to fly frequently, an even smaller minority to live a private jet lifestyle, and an even smaller minority to maximise profits and wealth through the aviation industry.

[xii]

While fossil fuel used by household and domestic transport is taxed, jet fuel is exempt from tax [xiii].

As it stands, we know children's lives everywhere have already been impacted irreversibly by a failure to urgently reduce global warming emissions. UNICEF have repeatedly warned the climate crisis is a child's rights crisis [xiv].

Ireland needs to play its role.

The Irish aviation industry is relentlessly pushing us, and lobbying politicians, in the wrong direction.  According to the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) "Ireland used 1.36 billion litres of jet kerosene in 2023 - the highest annual demand ever recorded and up 12.7% on the previous year." [xv]

The transport sector is a large (40% in 2022), and growing, part of Ireland’s fossil fuel emissions problem.  And, within transport, the sector that has contributed most to the increase since 2012 has been aviation. [xvi]

The vast majority of passenger flights from Ireland are to Europe (84%), and the UK is by far the leading destination, followed by Spain, both of which are accessible by ferry.  The Dublin–London air route is the busiest air route in Europe, and the 2nd busiest international route in the world. [xviii]

As well as passenger air traffic, increased demand for air freight is generated through online retailers such as Shein and Temu, who fulfil orders via air-freight rather than shipping.  There is huge expansion in planes flying freight-only [xix], mostly through consumers ordering online directly from far-away online retailers, with products being flown rather than shipped to get to the consumer quickly.  Even for fast-fashion items which are polluting to produce in the first place, if they are air freighted on a plane to the consumer, the pollution impact is 40% greater than if the same (polluting) item was shipped on an actual ship.[xx]

 [xvii]

Lobbying, spin and advertising are holding us back.

Relentless advertising, of passenger flights, of flight-based holidays, and of long-distance online retailers has fueled huge growth in aviation pollution, and is set to continue to push further pollution growth on a destabilising climate.[xxi]

Aviation industry spin includes the claim that the Irish tourism industry will suffer if aviation is curbedHowever, it is very likely that more money flows out of the country by people in Ireland flying abroad, than flows into the country through inward tourism.   In 2023, according to the Central Statistics Office, the total estimated expenditure of visitors to Ireland was €7.3 billion. In the same year, total expenditure on outbound overnight trips amounted to $12.9 billion. [xxii]

Dublin Airport was named as Ireland’s biggest greenhouse gas polluter in 2022 [xxiii].  Dublin Airport Authority (DAA), despite being a semi-state body, is lobbying against the interests of our collective future, using misleading statistics which minimize the extent of the emissions - referring to emissions of just the airport buildings rather than the emissions of the flights enabled by the airport, and claiming that “Sustainable Aviation Fuel” (SAF) will solve the problem.  The current CEO of Dublin Airport Authority is the former Chief Marketing Officer at Ryanair.  Aviation policy needs to be based on climate science, not on lobbying by companies such as Ryanair, named as the most polluting company in Ireland, in the top ten climate polluters in Europe, and the most polluting airline in Europe [xxiv]. Ryanair engages in relentless greenwashing, and problematically funds the Irish university sector [xxv]. 

Join us - take a stand on the future of our children.

Children's Rights Over Flights campaign launch in August 2024 on Dolymount Beach, Dublin

Children’s Rights Over Flights is a recently-formed grassroots, volunteer group of parents, grandparents and other concerned people, demanding children’s rights are prioritised over endless flights.

We are currently campaigning against the expansion of the passenger cap at Dublin Airport, a move which, as well as harming our climate future, also subjects children living near the airport and under flight paths to increased air and noise pollution. We have supported local community campaign groups in their actions against harmful levels of aviation, including night flights. We seize opportunities to counteract misinformation in the media, while using each occasion to raise public awareness about the impacts of aviation expansion on the rights of children. We advocate for responsible approaches to aviation as the climate crisis worsens, and we make submissions to the planning process.

We encourage you to take a stand against the aviation industry’s efforts to increase polluting flight traffic in Ireland.  There must be no expansion to Dublin Airport; every sector must play its part in climate action- for every child.  We also ask you to encourage  any climate or social justice groups you may be involved with to join us in campaigning to “keep the passenger cap”.

Sign our petition here: https://my.uplift.ie/petitions/keep-the-dublin-airport-passenger-cap-help-protect-children-from-harm

You can contact us on crofcampaign@gmail.com if you would like to get involved, and you can follow us on the social media below.

Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/rightoverflight.bsky.social

Mastodon https://mastodon.social/@RightOverFlight@mastodon.ie

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/childrensrightsoverflights

References

[i] https://www.breakingnews.ie/explained/whats-in-the-new-programme-for-government-the-key-points-1718551.html

[ii] https://www.daa.ie/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/daa-monthly-statistics-december-2024.pdf

[iii] https://www.irishtimes.com/environment/climate-crisis/2024/06/06/carbon-emissions-from-aviation-cant-be-swept-under-the-carpet/

[iv] https://planning.agileapplications.ie/fingal/application-details/96644

[v] https://www.independent.ie/business/fingal-shock-ruling-says-dublin-airport-application-to-lift-passenger-cap-is-invalid/a1282480948.html

[vi] https://planning.agileapplications.ie/fingal/application-details/100345

[vii] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/feb/09/biggest-fossil-fuel-emissions-shipping-plane-manufacturing?ref=biztoc.com

[viii] https://www.transportenvironment.org/state-of-transport/aviation

[ix] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/feb/09/biggest-fossil-fuel-emissions-shipping-plane-manufacturing?ref=biztoc.com

[x] https://www.smithsonianmag.com/air-space-magazine/how-much-worlds-population-has-flown-airplane-180957719/

[xi] https://stay-grounded.org/?#gf_1

[xii] https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/air-trips-per-capita?time=2019

[xiii] https://m.independent.ie/irish-news/unfair-jet-fuel-is-exempt-from-carbon-tax-while-households-suffer-says-expert/a1559163211.html

[xiv] https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/nov/20/children-extreme-heatwaves-2050s-un

[xv] https://www.seai.ie/data-and-insights/seai-statistics/key-publications/national-energy-balance/

[xvi] https://www.seai.ie/data-and-insights/seai-statistics/co2

[xvii] Full calculations and sources https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1iG8UQ1ZQ-85vEqDGmVFQ95cTzEcF5Lnom1n3JIHPtws (compiled by Elaine Baker)

Flight data: https://co2.myclimate.org https://www.carboncare.org/en/co2-emissions-calculator

CO2 and energy data in Ireland: https://www.seai.ie/data-and-insights/

[xviii]

https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/77ebec-irelands-action-plan-for-aviation-emissions-reduction/

[xix] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/jun/26/air-freight-greenhouse-gas-emissions-increase-post-pandemic-economy

[xx] https://www.volts.wtf/p/fashions-climate-impact-and-how-to

[xxi] “Badvertising” - book by Andrew Simms and Leo Murray, and.  https://www.greenpeace.org/eu-unit/issues/climate-energy/46060/ads-for-cars-and-flights-could-cause-twice-as-much-co2-as-spain/

[xxii] UK analysis showing that stemming the outgoing economic flows of outgoing tourism outweighs potentially lower incoming tourism revenue https://neweconomics.org/2023/07/losing-altitude#:~:text=The%20environmental%20downsides%20of%20growth,pace%20of%20emissions%20reduction%20achievable.

Irish data on outward tourism  - Household Travel Survey 2023

https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-hts/householdtravelsurveyquarter4andyear2023/

Irish data on inward tourism https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-ibta/inboundtourismannual2023/

[xxiii] https://www.rte.ie/news/2022/1109/1335140-dublin-airport-largest-polluter-in-ireland-cop27-data/

[xxiv] https://www.bbc.com/news/business-47783992 https://m.independent.ie/irish-news/revealed-irelands-biggest-polluters-and-their-failure-to-control-emissions/a1320311707.html

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1326899/european-airline-ghg-emissions/

[xxv]  https://universitytimes.ie/2024/09/trinitys-ryanair-aviation-centre-an-attempt-to-greenwash-one-of-the-most-polluting-industries-in-the-world/

Fight against LNG at critical juncture

By A Deegan

In late August XRI staged a coordinated  international anti-LNG, anti-fracking protest at the Dublin - New York Portal with activists from Sane Energy, New York. Irish protesters chanted “from Dublin to NYC, we say no to LNG” and “New Fortress Energy, we don't want your LNG”. LNG is as bad as coal in terms of its greenhouse gas emissions and we cannot allow it to get a foothold in this country - whether it’s from fracked sources or not. (Check out video of our protest.)

Since then, there’s been bad news that we need to act on. New Fortress, who had been refused permission to develop a commercial LNG terminal in September last year by An Bord Pleanála, won their appeal in the High Court - on the grounds that Eamon Ryan’s May 2021 Policy Statement on the Importation of Fracked Gas was not sufficient basis for them to have based their refusal on. The decision is now due to be remitted back to An Bord Pleanála on 14th October and they may very well decide to grant permission this time. 

Our anti-LNG, anti-fracking protest at the Dublin-NY Portal in August

Our anti-LNG, anti-fracking protest at the Dublin-NY Portal in August with Sane Energy New York’s banner visible on the NY side.

Our anti-LNG, anti-fracking protest at the Dublin-NY Portal in August

Meanwhile, the dangerously-flawed Planning and Development Bill 2023, which fast-tracks LNG, oil and gas and data centre planning applications is being rushed through the houses of the Oireachtas and is about to be passed into law.  

There has been one hopeful development in the LNG story recently, with climate group Not Here Not Anywhere’s LNG Free Bill which bans LNG infrastructure having been picked to go to second stage on the evening of 9th November. But the date of the next general election hasn’t been set yet, so it’s not clear if there will be enough time for it to be passed.

So where does this all leave us? It means we have to apply maximum pressure before the 14th October remittal date, try to stop the Planning and Development Bill 2023 from being passed or at minimum get it amended and push for the passage of the LNG Free Bill as soon as possible.

The good news is that there are multiple ways you can help achieve the right outcomes in the fight against LNG. You can 

• Attend the “Say No to Shannon LNG and No to Fracked Gas” protest outside Leinster House, Kildare St this Wednesday 9th Oct at noon. 

• Take an e-action addressed to Green Party TDs and Senators calling on them to establish a legally strong moratorium on LNG imports and strip out the designation of LNG as strategic from the Planning Bill. 

• Contact your TDs to push them to support strong amendments to the Planning Bill against LNG terminals by TD’s Thomas Pringle, Eoin O'Broin and Cian O'Callaghan. 

And please be sure to stay tuned as things are happening fast on the LNG front and we need everyone to be paying attention so it doesn’t slip through on our watch! 

Ireland in Solidarity with Uganda against EACOP

By Ian Mac an G

On Sunday 22nd of September, members of Friends of the Earth Ireland, Extinction Rebellion Ireland, and Dundrum Climate Vigil met with Ugandan environmental and human rights defender Maxwell Atuhura. Maxwell's visit to Ireland was organized by Friends of the Earth to raise awareness and build solidarity between Ireland and Uganda on the fight against the East African crude oil pipeline (EACOP).

Maxwell is a member of the Ugandan non-profit TASHA which is currently fighting against EACOP - a project which has been in development since 2013 and is intended to carry crude oil about 1,445 km through Uganda and Tanzania to a port on the Indian Ocean. Maxwell, and activists like him, have suffered intimidation, harassment, and even imprisonment as a result of standing up to EACOP and its backers but refuses to be silenced.

Maxwell meeting up with activists at Dublin 8 coffee shop

Climate Change 

We are in a climate emergency and any new fossil fuel project is a backward step, and another blow to our grievously wounded ecosystems. EACOP is expected to emit 379 million tonnes of CO2 over a 25-year period, according to a report by the Climate Accountability Institute, and has been described as ‘monstrous’, and a ‘carbon bomb. It is vital that we reduce our carbon emissions across the globe to save our future, but instead, this is a project that will worsen the climate crisis and the consequences for human beings and other species. 

Environmental Degradation

We are already seeing the consequences of climate change in Ireland but it is far worse, currently, for vulnerable communities in the Global South, such as those in Uganda. The human cost of EACOP specifically is enormous, with Human Rights Watch estimating that tens of thousands are being impoverished by the project. The pipeline is also an immediate threat to the Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda’s oldest and largest national park and will result in major environmental degradation in what is a highly important and species-rich habitat and a major source of tourism.

Neo-Colonialism 

EACOP is jointly owned by TotalEnergies, China National Offshore Oil Corporation, Uganda’s National Oil Company, and Tanzania. TotalEnergies, a French company is the majority owner (65% in 2021), meaning the majority of profits from this project will not stay in Uganda but will go to a company based in France, mirroring how wealth was extracted from Africa and funneled to European powers in the colonial era.

Solidarity from Ireland, and Europe

Amis de la Terre (Friends of the Earth, France), Survive, National Association of Professional Environmentalists (NAPE)/Friends of the Earth Uganda, Africa Institute for Energy Governance (AIEG), and TASHA have joined Maxwell Atuhura and 26 members of affected communities battling EACOP with a lawsuit against TotalEnergies in France. The 2017 Duty of Vigilance Law in France makes large French companies legally accountable for preventing human rights and environmental violations and this forms the basis of the lawsuit against TotalEnergies. An EU-wide directive on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence entered into force this year.

Ireland is a member of the EU, and Irish citizens are EU citizens, represented by 13 Members of the European Parliament, and the EU Commissioner-designate for Democracy, Justice and rule of Law is the Fianna Fáil TD, Michael McGrath. Together we can pressure Irish and other European representatives to scrutinise EACOP and TotalEnergies, and similar projects and entities, in Ireland and abroad, to support environmental and human rights defenders like Maxwell Athura, to fight back against the fossil fuel industry and help save our futures!

Growing public awareness and pressure has already resulted in banks, investors, and insurers quitting the EACOP project. Last November, seven Extinction Rebellion Ireland activists travelled by bus and ferry to participate in the Oily Money Out protests in London which included huge, noisy protests against the financial backers of EACOP. We can all play a part in making this disastrous project unpopular, and unprofitable!

It’s not just the EACOP either, we in Ireland have our own fossil fuel project to fight against too! We continue to resist the ever-present threat of an LNG import terminal in our waters with the (much appreciated) solidarity of Irish and overseas groups  - including Frack Action and Sane Energy, New York. We must continue to follow their example and stand together with people elsewhere in the world.

We need to bear in mind that the fight against new fossil fuel infrastructure is global. We need to say NO to fossil fuels in Ireland, in Uganda, and everywhere else! We need to rebel against extinction!

We need to fight for a safer, greener future for Maxwell Atuhura, for Ugandans, for ourselves, and for all life on Earth.

Rebels and Crusaders

By C O’Reilly

I was one of a group of XRI climate activists gathered at Sir John Rogerson’s Quay on Thursday 11th of July to protest at the annual 5k Docklands Race organised by Crusaders Athletic Club.

We were there to protest the sponsorship of this event by JP Morgan.  According to Forbes, JP Morgan Chase is the #1 fossil fuel financier in the world, committing $40.8 billion dollars to fossil fuel companies in 2023 alone.  This is despite warnings that an urgent phase- out of fossil fuels is required to avert global catastrophe.

Proceeds from the event are used to improve the club’s facilities and to promote sport, health and wellbeing in the community. One of the largest athletics clubs in Dublin, it serves Irishtown, Ringsend, Sandymount, and the Docklands area. Sadly, all these areas are at risk of falling below the annual flood level as early as 2030, according to Climate Central. Sea levels are rising due to global warming, to which fossil fuels are by far the largest contributor.

XRI reached out to the club last year with a letter about this sponsorship, but got no reply. However, during this protest one of our rebels learnt that Crusaders have a multi-year sponsorship contract with JP Morgan. It is shameful that this thriving, supportive and inclusive club is being used for heartless and cynical sportswashing.

We set ourselves up near the starting line with upwards of 1,700 runners gathered in front of us, along with stewards and supporters. The evening was dry, a little cool, with a light breeze - perfect for the runners. The Liffey flowed by, wide and majestic, through the mouth of the bay and onto the Irish sea. Our loud and colourful show with its iconic XR flags, rhythmic drumbeats and sinister Grim Reaper added a colourful carnival atmosphere to the occasion. The excitement and anticipation were palpable. We had no wish to spoil their fun, but we had an important message to deliver about their sponsors.

Via loudspeaker just before the race got going, our message was read out: we wanted them to enjoy their race; but we were there to ask them to stop taking sponsorship from JP Morgan because of their funding of fossil fuels.  Financing by big finance and insurance companies has enabled greenhouse gas emissions to rise for decades.

We reminded them that climate breakdown is already causing death and destruction in many places around the world and has been disproportionately affecting people in the global south, people who have contributed least to the problem.  We need drastic cuts in fossil fuels to save lives and protect future generations, not just elsewhere but here in Ireland too.   We had devastating floods in Middleton last year, and too much rain this spring prevented many Irish farmers from planting their crops.  

Our messaging was backed up by our banner and by information leaflets handed out to the crowd. Watching their reaction, I got the impression that many had given little thought to the business of their sponsors. This also proved to be the experience of our outreach team, who found that the participants they engaged with had been unaware of their sponsors’ investments in fossil fuels.  A JP Morgan employee who was watching the race also claimed ignorance of his company’s connection to fossil fuels.

None of this is surprising.  You’re unlikely to find any mention of fossil fuels on JP Morgan’s website. Investments are complex and what company these days wants to boast about supporting the fossil fuel industry?  There were further opportunities for raising awareness and spreading much-needed information after the race, when we stationed ourselves beyond the finish line outside JP Morgan bank. 

Anxiety and fear are natural responses when it seems that the dire warnings of scientists and trusted leaders are disregarded, when life reverts to “business as usual”.  It is such a relief to meet with others who care, who are willing to get out and protest, who are not afraid to speak truth to power. All in all, a worthwhile protest, both for its vital raising of awareness, and for the mutual support which participation in an XRI protest provides. And the drummers were great!

Photographs by Alessandro Summer

Fear and Fine Clothing at the Irish Funds Conference

By Tom Adams

On Thursday 23 May 2024, XR Ireland protested at the Irish Funds Industry Association Global Conference. This was a follow up to the protest at the Mansion House two weeks previous, targeting the same group. Today the venue was the gilded Royal Dublin Convention Centre on Ship Street. Alas, we were not able to get close to the Convention Centre because, according to the dozens of Gardai present, the street was closed (at least to non-besuited members of the public) due to some other issue, nothing at all to do with XRI, honest. As it turned out, the Convention Centre’s elusive entrance meant that scores of attendees were left ambling around, confusedly consulting Google Maps, allowing us to engage with them. Or allowing us to try. It was amazing how many denied attending the conference at all, almost as if there was something inherently shameful about being part of an industry with over $1.2 trillion squirreled away in fossil fuels. Of course, the excellent suits and dresses gave them away, as did the oversized watches and handbags (not to mention the chain of jet-black Range Rovers being waved into the underground car park). In the end, we started directing them to the conference, provided they took a leaflet with them.  

The whole thing felt akin to being a waiter at Davos. Hello, sir, can I interest you in a leaflet? Madam, would you please consider divesting from fossil fuels? Could I beseech you to perhaps not be so complicit in the destruction of the natural world? No? Well, do take a vol-au-vent! In terms of the demographics involved, there seemed to be more men than women, and more bald men than the plentifully hirsute. As a rapidly balding middle-aged man, this was heartening, even uplifting, and for a moment I had an urge to follow them down the hill to the Convention Centre and plough my meagre life savings into Vanguard ($267 billion invested in fossil fuels) or BlackRock ($261 billion) or State Street ($133 billion), all Irish Funds Industry Association members. Then I remembered the Climate Emergency and my two-year-old daughter and the tsunami of suffering rushing towards us (and, in so many places around the globe, already making landfall).

A few of the attendees did talk to us. One woman smilingly pointed out that financial services are doing a huge amount for the energy transition. In the abstract, I suppose, she is correct – in 2023, $1.7 trillion was invested in clean energy whereas a ‘mere trillion’ went towards fossil fuel extraction. But this narrative obscures how the nascent renewables industry is being stunted by much more established fossil fuel companies and their nefarious political operatives who sees the energy transition as an existential threat to their hegemony (the only existential threat that they are prepared to recognise). As such, it is not just that every dollar invested in fossil fuels is one that could have gone into clean energy, it is that this dollar will be actively spent on arresting a renewables revolution which requires $4.5 trillion a year by 2030 for us to have any chance – and it is minute, by this stage – of restricting heating to 1.5C globally. And $1 trillion a year is, after all, still a gargantuan amount, particularly given that the IEA affirmed in 2021 that there can be no more oil, gas or coal development if we are to reach Net Zero by 2050. In this context, casting financial services as an altruistic force is, to say the least, problematic.

And then there was the elegantly attired man who informed us that he originally studied as a meteorologist in France. I wondered if he were an outlier in financial services, perhaps even a double agent, a mole! But then he asked if I was aware of the “scientists out there” who had found no conclusive evidence that climate change was occurring due human-made emissions? Ah, no, I said, no, not really. I told him I was aware of the research that found 99.9% of scientists (across 90,000 studies) in agreement that the Climate Emergency was caused by humans. He smiled, undeterred, and told me that these other ‘scientists’ were being denied a platform on mainstream media. I tried to get to the nub of what he believed himself. It’s not about belief, it’s about facts, he said, with a magnificent lack of irony. He then began telling me about the ‘medieval climate optimum’, a denialist trope about how the earth was warm before and Everything Was Fine. I pointed out that scientists had declared 2023 the warmest year in 125,000 years but this did not move him either. Clearly, his alternative scientists said something different, and the net effect was that he could invest in fossil fuels without troubling his conscience. Or perhaps not: you probably hate me! he said, smiling, as he walked away, and there, for a fleeting second, was the guilt, but unconscious still, and projected outward onto us ‘extremists’ with our flags and leaflets and loudspeaker.

On the morning went. Speeches were made. Leaflets distributed. Conversations had. Who knows what the ‘general public’, on their way to work, made of it. Some filmed on their phones, some stopped to ask what it was all about, some had a visceral negative reaction: I’m fine with my pension, thanks very much, one man said, walking by with his buddy. The world has seen much worse! he added. I told him I admired his confidence. Another man, clearly sickened, told us all to go and get jobs. As if attending climate protests was the kind of thing that only the fecklessly unemployed might do. But then there were others who articulated their support, almost with relief; one or two asked how they could join XRI. It goes without saying that there is more work – an immense amount – needed to collapse the gap between those who are actively involved in climate and those who do not yet recognise the extent of the problem, do not yet identify themselves as the kind of people prepared to act.  

Meanwhile, back in the belly of the beast, members of the Irish Funds Industry were highlighting trends and discussing venture capital and doing whatever else investment analysts and asset managers do. It’s all too easy to cast these people as villains, as I have, but we also need them to join us, so this is what I would say: come, everything that you care about is under threat, so place your immense financial power in the service of something bigger than the bottom line. A future worth living in.

Photographs by Thady Trá

Sources

Investing in Climate Chaos - Explore the Data https://investinginclimatechaos.org/data

XRI Holds Fossil Fuel Funders to Account

On 9th May 2024, a group of XRI activists met in St Stephen’s Green. Our target was the nearby Mansion House, official residence of the Lord Mayor of Dublin. There the annual members’ dinner of the Irish Funds Industry Association was being held, in the historic Round Room that was built to receive King George IV in 1821.

The Irish Funds Industry Association counts among its members Vanguard, BlackRock and State Street, considered to be the Big Three index fund managers which play a dominant role in corporate America. Together they account for $661 billion of fossil fuel investments. The association also includes JP Morgan Chase and Citi Bank, banks which are among the so-called “Dirty Dozen” - the 12 banks which dominate the financing of fossil fuels. The association boasts direct links to policy makers and regulators, and a close working relationship with the Central Bank of Ireland and all relevant Irish government departments.  It’s ironic that the Round Room is where the First Dáil assembled on 21 January 1919 to proclaim the Irish Declaration of Independence. 

It was a warm sunny evening in the Green, and the big old trees were at their leafy best. We sat on the grass chatting, while readying ourselves for what might lie ahead. Suddenly it was time to set off for our target. 

The Mansion House is in Dawson Street which runs parallel to Dublin’s famous Grafton Street. It is itself a busy thoroughfare on a Thursday evening with its popular shops and restaurants.  We spread ourselves along the pavement in front of the building and unfurled our XR flags and banners. There is no doubt we attracted a lot of attention from the passers-by.  Eyes lit up when they saw they were witnessing Extinction Rebellion in action. Our impact was further bolstered by the arrival of the Garda Public Order Unit, who poured out of the back of a van wearing stab vests. They needn’t have worried, but the optics were impressive, and having them there was very reassuring for us; after all we’re the ones who were sticking our necks out, standing up against the rich and powerful for the benefit of all.

Meanwhile, two of our brave activists had glued themselves to the main gate and to each other, effectively blocking access. Another two had glued themselves to another two  entrances. All four sported signs listing a different asset management company in the Irish Funds Industry Association and the amount that company has invested in fossil fuel development.The guests in their glamour and finery were obliged to turn and walk along the line of banners demanding they stop funding climate chaos, and use a back entrance down an alley. Some guests gave us a blank smile, others averted their gaze, but there was no ignoring our enthusiastic drumming and chanting. We were pointing the finger at the greedy companies they represent.

By now the protest was in full swing. With the help of a megaphone, we called out to the funders of fossil fuels the damage they are doing. Some passers-by signalled their appreciation. We proudly struck up in a rousing cry of defiance, “Power to the People”. The percussion section played no small part in pounding out our message, leaving all in no doubt that it was the dinner-goers who were out of step.

Holding such a protest can be daunting and unpredictable, but together we did it. Our action not only succeeded in raising awareness; it also strengthened and united us.

by C. O’Reilly

Photo by K Handy

Photo by K Handy

Photo by JJ Perez

Main entrance to the Round Room with two the glued-on activists and security guard
Photo by K Handy

Standing with XRI

by C. O’Reilly

It’s a cold March morning as we gather on the north side of the graceful harp-like Beckett Bridge, which crosses the Liffey just up from its mouth.  We battle the breeze whipping upriver but soon we’re sorted, and we’re off!  

We are protesting against JP Morgan, a major sponsor of today’s National Payments Conference. JP Morgan Chase is the world’s no. 1 financier of fossil fuels since the Paris Agreement and JP Morgan’s asset management arm is one of the top investors in the 12 major oil and gas expansion companies.  The conference is to be opened by EU Commissioner Mairead McGuinness.

We certainly look incongruous: men and women, young and old, the leggings and rain jackets, the iconic XR flags flapping in the breeze, marching along like a merry band of medieval knights and mummers among the suited grim-faced Monday morning workers.

We head east along the river grabbing the attention of passers-by. Gone are the old docklands, thanks to container shipping. In their place stands the oh-so-flashy Irish Financial Services Centre (IFSC), a Special Economic Zone (SEZ), with its own trade laws.  It dominates the city from the Liffey mouth, a bastion of the Celtic Tiger, attracting foreign direct investment with its low corporate tax rate.  

The conference is being held in the Convention Centre, the landmark building of the district - ironically, said to be the first carbon-neutral conference centre in the world (with the help of Carbon Credits). It’s being run by the Banking and Payments Federation of Ireland (BPFI). Part of our message is to BPFI and other event hosts: Stop lending legitimacy to climate criminals like JP Morgan by taking sponsorship money from them.

We approach the building and there is a surge of excitement as some of our brave protesters dash onto the parapet that fronts the entrance in an attempt to gain access. But they are halted by Gardaí.  We are corralled back out onto the footpath where we line up – and the thirty or so of us, interspersed with banners carrying our message, make an impressive sight. Behind us, blocking the entrance, a row of Gardaí stand shoulder-to-shoulder, watching us. Reinforcements arrive, but there’s a peaceful vibe so they fade away.

Our drummers are impressive; you can feel the beat in the pit of your stomach as we cry out our protest chants.  There’s a megaphone.  A shaker adds depth and colour to the drum beats. In front of us is our pièce de résistance, a two-metre-high “Climate Reaper”, complete with scythe and dancing to the beat. Others dance in place to keep warm. I feel overcome with emotion; my fears and frustrations around the crisis well up in relief as I feel I’m not alone! 

We miss the arrival of Mairead Mc Guinness; she was probably smuggled in by the back entrance!  Other attendees are aware of us as they are directed away by the Gardaí.  We are watched by drivers heading up the quays and other passers-by.  Leaflets explaining our action are distributed.

We pack up, head to a nearby café to warm up and to discuss the day’s happenings, feeling satisfied that we have succeeded in putting on a good show and getting our message across.

JP Morgan “Climate Reaper” complete with scythe, covered in the logos of fossil fuel companies that JP Morgan has financed Photo by E Connolly

Monday, 4th March: Protesting JP Morgan’s funding of fossil fuels at entrance to Dublin Convention Centre where JP Morgan-sponsored BPFI conference underway Photo by A Deegan

Moving on after the protest Photo by K Handy

J.P. Morgan! There are no ‘Women in Tech’ on a dead planet

On the evening of 23rd March, I was among the XRI rebels who disrupted J.P. Morgan Dublin’s “Women in Technology” networking event to draw attention to the harm the company is doing by financing fossil fuel companies. It’s the worst of the big banks dubbed the “dirty dozen” in the 2022 Banking on Climate Chaos report. We also wanted to highlight the irony of their attempt to recruit women in particular, given the outsized harm that climate change does to women around the globe.

We seated ourselves dotted among the audience of about 70 people - a mix of potential recruits and employees. Just a few minutes into the opening remarks of one of four panellists on-stage, our first disrupter in the “audience” stood up declaring “There are no women in tech on a dead planet” and laying out a few of the facts about J.P. Morgan and their funding of climate chaos. She was immediately followed by another disrupter and so on until five of us had spoken  - each beginning with the same slogan and following that with our own variation on the theme. It  culminated with a call to action for those considering working for J.P. Morgan to reconsider and for those working there to demand that their employer divests from all fossil fuels. 

It was only when the fourth and fifth (final) speakers stood up that the organisers seemed to truly get a grip on what was happening before their eyes. One or two of them then went into containment mode - trying to get us to quiet down. Another was overheard calling the guards. When the last of us had stood up and spoken, we made our way with our Extinction Rebellion flags to just in front of the stage, chanting “J.P. Morgan pick a side, divest now, or ecocide”. 

At this point, the organisers called on the “audience” to relocate to a different room and they and the panellists started filing out. A few J.P. Morgan staff stayed behind with us. Staff member Emma Mangan, Head of CIB Merchant & Card European Head of Technology engaged with us. She suggested we fight for change by buying shares in the company and becoming shareholder activists. We responded by asking her to quit J.P. Morgan and put her expertise to good use by helping us fight their continued investment in fossil fuel companies. 

Panellist and Executive Director, Keith Staunton also stayed behind but did not engage, except to deny that he was the Executive Director when asked by one of the activists - after which she pointed out that it stated clearly on the projector slide that he was in fact! We activists exited the room and the building peacefully shortly thereafter. 

We went for drinks afterwards to celebrate the success of our action and to wind down together and share our individual experiences of the evening. One participant shared that some attendees seated in front of her were nervously giggling while the disruption was underway, until one of the disruptors spoke of the “sexual violence” that women suffer as one of the consequences of the displacement of people as climate refugees. Another participant had overheard two of the panellists as they filed out of the event room saying “They’re right, they have a point, we need to talk about this”.

For more background on the action, please see our Press Release and of course, please watch and share our video of this action!

Finally, if you’re reading this and you work in the financial sector, chances are the company you work for does invest in fossil fuels as, sadly, it appears to be the norm rather than the exception. So please do what you can to push them to divest if they haven’t already. Equally, if you know someone who works in the financial sector, please encourage them to do likewise. 

Angela Deegan

A rebel with Extinction Rebellion

Further Resources:

https://www.bankingonclimatechaos.org/

https://divestmentdatabase.org/report-invest-divest-2021/ 

Three of the five XRI disruptors

Stealing the show from JP Morgan to demand they Divest Now from fossil fuels!

Meet the Docklands tech consultant who says his fellow workers are the key to making business face its responsibilities on climate

Photo: Michael-David McKernan
Climate activist Manuel Salazar

Caroline O'Doherty

October 17 2022 02:30 AM
Link to the Independent newspaper article (Premium version)

The passengers exiting the Dart at Dublin’s Grand Canal Dock do not look much like revolutionaries. Dressed in smart casuals, wireless ear buds snugly in place, they alight observing polite “after you” protocols, laptop bags slung over shoulders, the occasional folded scooter in hand.

Their platform lies under the gaze of Google’s extensive European headquarters and they disappear inside or disperse to the banking, investment, legal and tech firms beyond.

Manuel Salazar easily blends in among them.

A consultant with PwC, one of the largest firms in Ireland and indeed the world, he specialises as a marketing technology strategist – MarTech, in Docklands speak.

He has held the job for 10 years and enjoyed it, mostly.

“It’s like a marriage,” he says. “It has ups and downs.”

Mr Salazar has a life outside of work that sets him apart from most of the Docklands commuters, though.

He is a member of Extinction Rebellion, the movement of climate activists responsible for some of the most elaborate demonstrations and civil disobedience campaigns this country has seen.

Before Covid, they paraded through this district, beating drums, chanting slogans, urging the workers to “leave your desks, join the march”.

Now, Mr Salazar says, instead of taking the workers outside, it’s time to bring activism inside the workplace and start a ­revolution from within.

With support from the State via a grant from the Creative Ireland Programme and backing from Trinity College Dublin under the Dublin Rising initiative, Mr Salazar made a short film setting out six steps he says every employee should take to push their employers to act on the climate crisis.

VIDEO: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/corporations-climate-change-taking-action-from-inside-manuel-salazar/

He urges them to ask employers to put climate change at the forefront of their daily operations and business strategies, and to conduct climate impact assessments on all projects undertaken.

He asks them to push for a public pledge to move away from using or supporting fossil fuels, to vet all clients and contracts for ties to the fossil fuel industry, and to ensure staff benefits such as pension funds are not investing in fossil fuels.

As a last resort, he says workers who cannot get their employers to engage constructively, should “wake up and walk out”.

The film is aimed at all workers but has particular resonance in the Docklands, home to many international banks and investment management firms and the legal and financial companies that support them.

Fossil fuels are still profitable, even more so in the current energy crisis, and there is no shortage of investors willing to back them or professional service providers happy to bid for their contracts.

That cannot continue if Ireland is to be serious about climate action, Mr Salazar says.

_______________________________

“I may be an employee of this company but I am also a climate activist. My child is the environment, it requires some attention, and I’m attending that emergency right now”

_______________________________

He put his five-minute film, expertly shot by a professional filmmaker, online on various social media channels and on his own LinkedIn account through which he connects with many client firms and other businesses.

It has been widely circulated across climate activism networks since.

Mr Salazar had already been reminded of his employer’s social media policy after posting some other climate-related material on sites he uses personally and professionally so he feels this move is likely to be put under the spotlight, but says he is prepared for that.

In his film, he anticipates some of the arguments that may be thrown against him, saying “activism does not diminish a profession”.

“My employer told me, ‘you are not a climate activist, you are an employee of this company’,” he explains now.

“I answered, ‘so, you are a leader in this company but you are also a father. If something happens to your child during working time, you leave everything, you go and attend that emergency because you are a parent, even in working time’.

“It is the same for me with climate change. It cannot be attended to only before 9am and after 5.30pm.

“I may be an employee of this company but I am also a climate activist. My child is the environment, it requires some attention, and I’m attending that emergency right now.”

On the question of whether “right now” is a good time given the cost-of-living crisis and the growing warnings about global recession, he says constant deferral of climate action is the costliest approach.

“I understand contracts are linked to jobs and the profit of the company and your boss doesn’t want to turn them down. But my argument is that if the employer really cares about you and jobs and future livelihoods, then they have to start moving away from those contracts that are linked to high carbon emissions. They have to consider not just one financial year but 20, 30, 40 years ahead. There are no jobs on another planet.”

He acknowledges that employees may be nervous raising climate issues with their bosses but says even where there are no trade unions, workers are more powerful than they think.

“We are in a climate crisis so they are valid questions to ask. It also alerts the employer about how the new workforce is thinking,” he says.

“That’s already happening in terms of inclusion and diversity. If you apply for a job, you can ask the employer: are you open to people of different sexual orientation or race?

“Those are now valid questions so why not climate change? Companies now want to show they are inclusive so they should be willing to show their green credentials too, but they need an engaged workforce to make this happen.

“I know in Ireland confrontation can be a bit challenging. It’s a cultural thing. But walkouts are a normal way to express discontent about a situation that needs to be addressed.

_______________________________

“Venezuela is one of the richest countries in the world in terms of oil and yet most people are poor. The cost, at human level, social level and environmental level is so high”

_______________________________

“So I don’t think any employer should be threatened by that because what we want at the end is to be proud to work with that company.”

He believes he is not the only one who feels like this.

“There are so many people out there that for sure feel the same and they probably don’t know how to move forward.

“I understand they are concerned about their jobs. We all have dependants, we all have bills to pay and families to feed. Myself, I support family back in Venezuela.

“But then, at the same time, if I don’t do anything I won’t be happy with myself. I have to put myself forward on the front line.”

Mr Salazar is an Irish citizen since 2012 and he came here via the Middle East, mainland Europe and the UK, but witnessing the impact of the oil industry in his birth country has stayed with him and shaped his views.

“Venezuela is one of the richest countries in the world in terms of oil and yet most people are poor. The cost, at human level, social level and environmental level is so high. The rivers are polluted, people displaced,” he says.

“Oil companies are calling themselves energy companies now and may be investing a little bit in renewables but it’s just to try to run away from the stigma of being a dirty industry.”

Mr Salazar says the Government should be more choosy about the overseas companies it encourages to come here.

“I think they have been very permissive by allowing certain companies that are actively investing in fossil fuels to enjoy the corporate tax that they have right now.

_______________________________

“You have a duty as a citizen to protect the country that you belong to and Ireland is my home”

_______________________________

“Government has to decide if their role is going to be just sitting back and watching what is happening because they are afraid of losing jobs, or to have a frank conversation with these companies, to have laws that will force them to change their behaviour.

“I am very proud to be an Irish person. I swore an oath to the country, that I need to protect Ireland from foreign and local threats.

“But sometimes I feel that my government and some companies are the local threat because by not protecting the environment, you are going against Ireland.

“You have a duty as a citizen to protect the country that you belong to and Ireland is my home.

“It’s the place I want to protect from climate change. I’m just asking other workers to help me.”

An Open Letter to Fossil Fuel Executives with Children

Written by Tom Adams

In January this year my partner gave birth to our first child. For me, the period since has been a wonderful and devastating time. Wonderful because I have seen at close hand how my daughter’s mischievous personality has emerged. Devastating because I have viewed this year’s climate destruction through the prism of her innocence and have helplessly projected forward to the ‘unrecognisable’ future awaiting her. In fact, when I shush her back to sleep, I now imagine that what has distressed her is not a nightmare but a realistic vision of life in 2050 or 2060. I remind myself she is one of the lucky ones. In the Global South, the lives of children are already being ripped away by global heating-induced disasters.

A while after my daughter’s birth I decided to contact an old friend who had also just become a father. Like you, he is a fossil fuel executive – in his case for one of the big players. I wondered if parenthood might have given him a different view of his industry. After exchanging photos of our little girls and concerns about the impacts of climate change – he was at least on board in this regard – I expressed my concern about the intransigence of Big Oil and Gas. His response depressed but did not surprise me. He highlighted the growing demand for energy, emphasised that the global economy was effectively built on oil and, in a curious echo of Occidental Petroleum CEO Vicky Hollub’s shame-faced statements at COP27, concluded that ‘people taking personal responsibility is going to be the key.’ 

It is true that those of us in developed countries need to rapidly decarbonise our lifestyles. But your industry is investing in our continued consumption by pumping hundreds of billions of dollars into terrifying fossil fuel expansion. It is also, as COP27 bleakly demonstrated, actively lobbying against a transition away from fossil fuels. The upshot of this is that the world will be driven way beyond 1.5C of heating, the only safe pathway for our planet and our children. The notion that growing energy use necessitates a continued supply of hydrocarbon furthermore negates the reality that renewable energy is already meeting increased electricity demand. Imagine how fast the energy transition might occur if, instead of enriching shareholders, hiding behind hollow net zero rhetoric and cynically deflecting blame onto individuals – a longstanding tactic – your industry used excessive profits to boost its meagre investment in green energy.

I recognise that fossil fuel executives like yourselves will not be convinced by my perspective. You have heard these arguments many times before. You have your own narratives. So let me reframe my plea in more emotive terms. The brutal reality is this: your children, like my daughter, are going to suffer from the deadly consequence of global heating. Bill McGuire, author of Hothouse Earth and professor of Climate Hazards at UCL, has described in unsparing terms what the coming decades will look like. Even in comparatively temperate regions like Ireland and the UK, month upon month of ‘blistering heat’ will turn cities into ‘unbearable saunas’, unleash new diseases, and further accelerate species loss. Rather than bringing respite, the truncated winters will see unimaginably destructive storms, river flooding ‘on a biblical scale’, and deluged coastal communities. Crop failures in even more vulnerable regions will increase food scarcity. Many, many people will die. 

Perhaps you imagine that your economic advantages will insulate your children from the most savage aspects of this breakdown. If so, contemplate the impact on their mental health, relationships and life expectations. A study last year found that four in ten children already fear having children due to the climate crisis. Imagine how much this will have spiked by 2050 when global temperatures are on average between 1.7C and 2.4C warmer and, as per a recent Unicef report, ‘virtually all children on Earth will face more frequent heatwaves’ among other unforgiving conditions. Will your children want to travel, to live abroad? In addition to the proliferation of wildfires and floods and droughts, the world will experience escalating political violence, social unrest, and geopolitical tension. The Institute for Economics & Peace has predicted that there will be over a billion people displaced by climate change. Consider how this level of migration will tear at the social fabric. It does not seem hyperbolic to suggest that the anxiety will be pervasive and potentially overwhelming. So many of us have had the luxury of being able to live freely and fully. Our children, on the other hand, are going to be in the business of survival. 

How will they view us? I don’t know about you, but this keeps me awake at night. I was born in 1986. More than half of all CO2 emissions since 1751 have been emitted since 1990. As a result of my Western lifestyle, I am intensely implicated, and I do not work as an executive in a fossil fuel company. If I did, I would be terrified. In our present 1.2C world there are children of fossil fuels executives who are already ashamed of their parents. Imagine how their anger is going to entrench as the window for a safely habitable world slams in their faces. Climate awareness is only growing among younger people. Climate education will likely become compulsory in schools and universities. Think where youth consciousness will be in ten or fifteen years after an exponential rise in tragedy and devastation. 

I’m sure that many of you are, like my friend, decent people motivated by the desire to provide for your families – maybe this is how you justify your careers. Our children will be the ultimate arbiters of our actions, however, and this will be guided by their lived experience. If they are left to battle things out on a hothouse planet, then no amount of PR or greenwashing will persuade your children that your role in a pollutive and profit-sick industry was anything other than a betrayal of their futures. Take personal responsibility. Transform your industry immediately or suffer their rejection.