A new report highlighting a significant increase in heat-related deaths in Europe over the past two decades lays bare the dire consequences of countries failing to meet their climate action targets, according to Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore.<\/p>\n
Deputy Whitmore, who is the party\u2019s spokesperson on climate and biodiversity, said:<\/p>\n
\u201cAs we mark Earth Day 2024 today, this report from the EU Copernicus Climate Change Service and the World Meteorological Organisation is yet another wake-up call for governments across Europe.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt found there has been a 30 per cent rise in heat-related mortality in Europe over the past 20 years, with the intensity and frequency of heatwaves continuing to increase.<\/p>\n
\u201cWarning of serious consequences for public health, the \u2018State of the Climate\u2019 report confirmed that Europe is the fastest warming continent on earth, with temperatures rising at around twice the global average rate.<\/p>\n
\u201cHeat-related deaths were at the heart of a recent landmark legal case taken by the so-called \u2018Swiss Grannies\u2019 in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). The group, representing 2,400 older women, had argued that senior citizens are more likely to die in heatwaves.<\/p>\n
\u201cEarlier this this month, the court found that weak Swiss government climate policies had violated their human rights. The ECHR ruling will put countries throughout Europe, including Ireland, under legal pressure in domestic courts to meet their climate action targets.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile a number of countries made written submissions to the court last year, Ireland, along with Switzerland, actually sent a legal team to Strasbourg to challenge the women\u2019s case. Incredibly, it has now emerged that it was Minister Eamon Ryan himself who sought Government approval for Ireland to intervene.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs it has become blatantly obvious that this Government will miss its climate action targets, I can only assume it was the minister\u2019s aim to prevent any possible cases being taken directly against the State.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, Minister Ryan\u2019s decision to intervene in the Swiss case is completely at odds with his own Climate Action Plan and could have undermined efforts to hold governments to account for failures in meeting targets.\u201d<\/p>\n
April 22, 2024<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A new report highlighting a significant increase in heat-related deaths in Europe over the past two decades lays bare the dire consequences of countries failing to meet their climate action targets, according to Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore. Deputy Whitmore, who is the party\u2019s spokesperson on climate and biodiversity, said: \u201cAs we mark Earth Day […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2370,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[405,268,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-climate","category-jennifer-whitmore","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n