Leitrim native attends COP31 as Ireland’s Climate Youth Delegate

Adam Ó Ceallaigh, a 26-year-old from Drumshanbo, is at the conference as the Climate Youth Delegate for the Irish Delegation.

For Ó Ceallaigh, there is“a lot of positive energy” in the air as thousands descend on Antalya, Türkiye, to discuss the challenges posed by climate change and the potential solutions.

The young Leitrim man’s role is to speak on behalf of Irish young people at the summit, express their wishes to more prominent delegates and ensure that the “ambition” of Irish young people is reflected in climate policy negotiations.

“I think simply by the nature of being young, we have an acute understanding of climate change because it is the most serious threat to our future and future generations to come and therefore, young people are naturally drawn to act on it.”

COP is the annual decision-making forum for global climate policy, with delegates from around 200 UN countries meeting to discuss the next policy steps regarding reducing emissions, protecting nature, supporting vulnerable communities and preparing for more extreme weather.

As Ireland holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union, it is playing an important role representing the bloc's interests at COP.

Globally, governments face a difficult time as concerns over energy security, global trade, competitiveness and defence grapple with the need for radical action on climate change.

The shift in focus away from climate change policy by governments has left young people “incredibly disappointed,” said Ó Ceallaigh.

“We can only suggest disappointment that budgets like climate and development are taking a backseat in favour of defence.”

“I think we're incredibly disappointed to see climate take sort of a backseat in this.”

He suggests that investing in countries' development is key to defence.

“The best form of defence is development … historically, we can see a trend where conflict is or has been attached to, I suppose, fossil fuels. And I suppose the protection or the need for natural resources.”

“So again, if we were able to see the total shift away from fossil fuels through investment in clean energy programs, I think we would see happier and healthier communities, and we would see a sort of a safer and, I suppose, ultimately a more cohesive world.“

Meanwhile, domestically, Ireland has regressed on Climate action, slipping to 37th out of 64 wealthy nations on the Climate Change Performance Index and is currently the lowest-ranked EU country on climate action.

Ó Ceallaigh became involved in climate activism in his teens and was a member of Scouts before becoming Ireland's Climate Youth Delegate to the UN. He will serve in the role until 2028 and is joined at this year’s COP by the outgoing Youth Delegate, Fatima Ismail.

In his role, Ó Ceallaigh spends time engaging with young people in Irish community groups and schools, discussing climate change, with transitions to renewable energy a continuous theme.

“I would suggest that it's the belief of most young people in Ireland, is that the government does need to be acting quicker and the implementation of climate action needs to come quicker. “

Despite the challenges that climate change poses, Ó Ceallaigh says he is hopeful for the future and is inspired by those he has met at COP who are on the front lines of climate change, but also by seeing the things young people are doing at home to combat climate change.

“There are so many young people in Ireland acting on this, and it's something to be incredibly proud of, and when I think about it, it gives me an incredible amount of hope.”

He accepts that not everyone feels that hope when they think about the future and the prospects of climate change. His advice to them is that small actions can make a difference and breed hope and make a difference in tackling the issues facing the planet.

“Something so simple as having a conversation with someone you know, or by turning up to your local scout group or by going out and planting a tree with somebody or working on the farm with your family. “

“The fact that something as big as that can be played out just by you having a conversation with somebody else, I think is a really beautiful thing.”