Humanity is far too “selfish” to stop the climate crisis, Newstalk Breakfast presenter Shane Coleman has said.
As the world’s leaders flock to Egypt for the 27th Conference of Parties (COP27), the UN has issued a warning that the planet is "sending a distress signal".
The past eight years are on track to be the warmest on record and scientists say that the temperature is currently 1.15C above pre-industrial levels.
At Paris in 2015, leaders agreed to "pursue efforts" to keep it below 1.5C but Shane does not believe that they are likely to succeed.
“I just feeling incredibly pessimistic,” he said.
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“We know what’s going to happen here; there’ll be a long drawn out process, there’ll be loads of rows, there’ll be a behind the scenes deal and compromise will be hammered out and everyone will go home and forget about it.
“Nothing will change and I just fear we as humans - and I include myself in this - are just too selfish to make the kind of changes to save the planet. Selfish.”
Ireland and COP27
Taoiseach Micheál Martin has travelled to Egypt with a delegation, describing climate change as “ the single greatest challenge the world faces”.
“It is very clear that some of the countries that contributed least to climate change are bearing the worst brunt of its impacts,” he said.
“Many of these vulnerable countries lack the resources they need to deal with the challenges they face.
“I expect that climate finance will be a prominent issue in our discussions at the Summit, and I hope that developed countries will step up, ensuring that commitments entered into at previous meetings are delivered.”
The Government wants Ireland to generate 70% of its electricity from renewables by 2030 and reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Main image: Shane Coleman.
