TRÓCAIRE has called on the UK and Irish governments to commit to a future free of fossil fuels and support a global treaty to phase them out. The call came as Trócaire published a report ‘Fossil Free Future’ to launch the organisation’s new climate justice campaign.
The global fossil fuel industry is raking in staggering profits while fuelling the climate crisis that is wreaking havoc on the planet. As the world now faces the escalating impacts of the climate crisis Trócaire's latest report examines the role that Northern Ireland can play in promoting a global fossil fuel phase out. The report also highlights the failure of states and corporations to reduce emissions at the expense of climate vulnerable countries.
Speakers at the launch, as part of Belfast’s Imagine Festival, included Sinéad Loughran,
Trócaire’s Climate Justice Policy and Advocacy Advisor, and Jackline Mugoboka, Trócaire’s Climate Change & Resilience Programme Coordinator in Rwanda. Jackline is visiting Ireland as part of the current Trócaire Box Appeal at Lent.
Jackline Mugoboka said that while the effects of climate change are evident everywhere, these effects are far from equal. “We in the Global South experience the worst of a crisis that we did not cause. An urgent, fair and funded fossil fuel phase out requires those historically high-polluters, including the UK and Ireland, to phase out first, and to simultaneously provide the necessary climate finance to support a global just transition and pay for the harms incurred by those historically high-polluters; a global just transition cannot happen without adequate climate finance.”
Sinéad Loughran said, “Global North states, including the UK and Ireland, are failing to step up to their fair share of climate action. Furthermore, they are actively facilitating and supporting the global fossil fuel industry, which is doubling down on its toxic interests and reaping extortionate profits with impunity while the world faces escalating climate breakdown. We urgently need a global treaty to end the expansion of this rampaging industry, and to urgently and fairly phase out fossil fuels.
“While throwing out large tax breaks to the biggest polluters causing climate harms globally, the UK government has failed hugely to deliver on its climate finance obligations to Global South countries. On top of controversial changes in 2024, which saw a significant portion of the UK's climate finance come from changes in how this finance is calculated, the UK has recently announced huge cuts to its climate finance spending. Rather than increasing ambition to meet its obligations, the UK is moving further in the wrong direction on meeting its fair share of climate finance,” Sinéad Loughran said.
Northern Ireland also has a part to play according to Peter Heaney, Trócaire’s Head of Region. “Campaigners in NI are already driving the demand for the change we need to see. We may be a small region but the UK, Ireland and NI have played a disproportionate role in driving climate impacts globally, and failure to urgently phase out fossil fuels is at odds with our international climate and human rights obligations.”
The report recommends that:
• City and district councils in Northern Ireland should endorse the call for a global Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty as a means to build momentum towards a global treaty, reflecting the voices and concerns of citizens, and as a first step in local governments’ fossil fuel phase out agenda.
• The Northern Ireland Assembly should endorse the call for a global Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty as a logical next step in its progress on ending fossil fuel licenses, and to increase pressure on the UK and Irish governments to support a global treaty on the phase out of fossil fuels.
• The UK and Irish governments, as part of ensuring a global just transition and addressing their ecological debt to the Global South and human rights obligations, must provide their fair share of international climate finance to the Global South and raise funds for domestic Just Transition needs.
• The UK and Irish governments must step up to their fair share of obligations on climate action, including their obligations to phase out fossil fuels, and in doing so, endorse the call for a negotiating mandate on a global Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty.
