The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has identified 43 “significant risks” to Ireland caused by climate change.
The EPA has carried out Ireland’s first National Climate Change Risk Assessment (NCCRA) with the aim to alerting the government to where they should prioritise action to mitigate the impact of climate change.
Climate change presents Ireland with 115 risks and seven opportunities, according to the EPA’s assessment.
Out of these, 43 risks are significant with some presenting the danger of what the EPA calls “catastrophic levels of consequence” as a result of flooding and coastal erosion.
In the short term, the EPA says “extreme wind” presents a “critical” risk now as well as into the future.
The agency points to Storm Darragh and Storm Éowyn as examples of how high winds presents imminent danger to energy infrastructure in particular.
Extreme wind has the “potential to cascade and impact upon other systems”, the EPA warns.
High temperatures also presents a substantial risk to Ireland, the EPA says. The risk of heat could increase to “critical” by 2050, the report warns.
But in the long term, the most pressing risks to Ireland are from flooding and coastal erosion.
By late this century, the risk of erosion and flooding could increase from “critical” to “catastrophic”, the EPA warns.
“We know that Ireland is being impacted by climate change already. This comprehensive assessment highlights the need for additional urgent action to ensure Ireland is sustainably resilient to the risks that we currently face, and will increasingly experience, in the coming decades”, said the EPA’s Director General, Laura Burke.
“The National Climate Risk Assessment underscores the need for immediate action in the next five years to enhance the resilience of Ireland’s critical infrastructure to climate change”, said Dr Eimear Cotter, Director of the EPA’s Office of Evidence and Assessment.
“The risks with the most consequential and highest urgency ratings relate to extreme wind, coastal erosion and coastal flooding. These must be prioritised in adaptation and resilience actions to address climate risks and provide a basis for ensuring adaptation planning in Ireland is appropriately integrated across sectors.”