The Stop Climate Chaos Coalition

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Mission and Members

Stop Climate Chaos is a coalition of civil society organizations campaigning to ensure Ireland does its fair share to tackle the causes and consequences of climate change. Current members include development, environmental, youth and faith based organisations.

Vision

That Ireland makes a rapid and just transition to a carbon free future.

Values

We will strive for climate action that respects and promotes:

  • Science
  • Human rights
  • Public participation
  • Social justice
  • Equality
  • The natural environment
  • Creativity, diversity and persistence in our campaigning

Our Strategic Objectives 2017-2022

1. Influencing policy

That Irish government policies are informed by civil society perspectives and based on climate science, equity and justice.

2. Engaging the public

That public opinion and public debate in Ireland reflect the scientific consensus on climate change.

3. Growing Ireland’s climate movement

That Ireland has a strong, diverse and vibrant climate movement.

Our Campaign Objectives

Stop Climate Chaos members collaborate to campaign for

  1. The European Union to adopt targets and policies in the line with the Paris Agreement to hold “the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5C”.
  2. Political leadership to begin Ireland’s transition to a carbon-free future, starting with the promised National Dialogue and including a National Mitigation Plan that includes policies and measures in line with our fair share of climate action.
  3. The phasing out of fossil fuels for electricity generation in Ireland and a rapid and just transition to a community-centred, carbon-free energy system that leaves no one behind.
  4. Divestment from fossil fuels, starting with public money in the Irish Strategic Investment Fund and flagship institutions such as universities.
  5. Coherence between Ireland’s policies on foreign aid, trade and development, including contributing our fair share to the Green Climate Fund to help vulnerable countries cope with climate change.

Stop Climate Chaos engages and mobilizes the Irish public to take personal and political action in support of these common objectives. Within this shared framework our members will promote their own approaches to aspects of the challenge ahead.

If your organisation is interested in joining Stop Climate Chaos, please get in touch. Contact us at: info@stopclimatechaos.ie

Coalition Members

Afri joined the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition because we see this as one of the major issues facing humanity today. As confirmed in the recent IPCC Report, the poor of the world will be most seriously affected by Climate Change, and therefore any organisation that claims to be concerned about justice or development cannot afford to ignore it.

An Taisce works to secure the integration of greenhouse gas reduction and abatement into all new infrastructure and other development. We have worked to highlight the failure of local authorities and An Bord Pleanala to address climate change, and will continue to lobby for energy and transportation efficient development, in particular the curtailment of unsustainable car-based urban sprawl in Ireland.

Birdwatch is the largest independent conservation organisation in Ireland. Our aim is the conservation of wild birds and their natural habitats.

Climate change is one of the greatest challenges facing our planet. Poor countries are in the firing line - they are hit first and worst by its effects. Christian Aid is campaigning for the Irish Government to take urgent and immediate action to reduce our carbon emissions and to assist poor countries to adapt to climate change.

Comhlámh is a membership organization open to anyone interested in social justice, human rights and global development issues. We see climate change as posing a significant threat to sustainable development, and the Stop Climate Change Coalition as the most effective platform to raise awareness of the issue.

Established in 1981 as the Community Workers’ Co-operative (CWC), Community Work Ireland is a national organisation that promotes and supports community work as a means of addressing poverty, social exclusion and inequality, promoting, protecting and advancing human rights and ultimately achieving social change that will contribute to the creation of a just, sustainable and equal society.

Concern is witnessing first hand the impacts of climate change on the communities we work with. Already we see how the consequences are being borne disproportionately by the poorest people in the world. We are joining the coalition to bring their voices to the fore, to call for political leadership in Ireland and to support the poorest countries to adapt.

Council on Social Responsibility of the Methodist Church

The Council on Social Responsibilty aims to understand and analyse a range of social, political, economic and constitutional issues. It attempts to consider these issues with theological insight and to provide realistic and practical recommendations for action.

The twin challenges of climate change and oil depletion are two of the most crucial issue facing humanity and must be addressed to create a healthier, happier and more sustainable society.

Cyclist.ie – The Irish Cycling Advocacy Network – works at a national level and locally through regional groups to promote cycling as an integral part of local transport and an important part of addressing pressing contemporary problems, which include lowering greenhouse gas emissions, traffic congestion, significant health problems arising from sedentary lifestyles, the high cost of motorised transport and the need to revitalise towns and cities. By joining Stop Climate Chaos we can cooperate with other like minded groups lobbying for climate action.

Dublin Friends of the Earth is an active group of volunteers who work
together to champion urgent environmental causes that have a positive and
practical effect in helping our environment in Dublin, Ireland and
globally. We meet monthly online via Zoom. Contact dublin@foe.ie to RSVP or
join our mailing list. We currently have projects on Greening the City,
Plastic and Sustainable Transport along with action on climate change.

Eco Congregation Ireland encourages churches and their members to adopt an eco approach to worship, lifestyle, community outreach and contact with the developing world, which reflects our conviction that respect and care for the environment are Christian imperatives. It is committed to facilitating churches to understand the likely consequences of climate change and the necessary actions to counteract them. ECI is an inter-denominational project of the Irish Inter-Church Meeting, involving the Roman Catholic, Church of Ireland, Presbyterian and Methodist churches and the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Ireland.

ECO-UNESCO is Ireland's environmental education and youth organisation. We believe climate change is one of the most pressing environmental issues of our time. We work with young people who are concerned and frightened about the prospect of climate change but who feel disempowered because the issue seems so big. By working in this coalition we can make a bigger difference.

Feasta aims to identify the characteristics (economic, cultural and environmental) of a truly sustainable society, articulate how the necessary transition can be effected and promote the implementation of the measures required for this purpose.

Friends of the Earth campaigns for environmental justice and sustainability. Since its launch in Ireland in 2005 we have made climate change our top priority. We joined Stop Climate Chaos because only a strong civil society coalition can make sure Ireland does its fair share to prevent runaway climate change.

Friends of the Irish Environment was formed by a group of environmental activists in 1997 who felt that European law was not being recognised in Ireland and that community groups and individuals needed a way to connect with environmental activists.

Initial meetings were informal but FIE soon determined to become a company in order to establish credibility and be able to bring legal challenges in the Irish Courts. The Company was established under Irish law in 2001 and acts as the formal structure for an active network of volunteers who try and fulfil the following goals:

  • monitor the full implementation of, and to assist in the development of, European law;
  • work for changes in the Irish planning laws;
  • encourage the implementation of the right to full public participation and access to justice;
  • provide assistance to individuals, local groups, and the wider public in understanding environmental issues;
  • seek proper implementation of environmental and planning law to support sustainable communities including the pursuit of concerns and cases in both the built and the natural environment.

FIE welcomes help of all kind; bring your own ideas or look through our website and see where you think you might be able to assist. We work almost entirely through email lists, but have an annual Weekend where we develop our main projects. Mail us or give us a call. That’s what we were set up for.

As a Humanitarian Aid Agency, GOAL is acutely aware of the challenges the global community is facing as a result of Climate Change: among them are increased poverty, migration, hunger and global injustices. Those that have contributed the least to climate change in the past 100 years, and whose carbon footprint is still almost non-existent, are affected the most and the first. GOAL is working with vulnerable communities to prevent and respond to Climate Change and build resilience and well-being.

Good Energies Alliance Ireland, through research, advocacy, education and campaigning, aims to influence public opinion and decision-makers in Ireland and abroad against the continued use of fossil fuels and towards practical policies on energy sources and uses that combat climate change and respect the environment, the planet and people.

Irish Doctors for the Environment (IDE) is an organisation of doctors concerned about the impact of climate change on the environment and on our patients. We aim to create awareness of the enormous impact that climate change has on health, as well as bringing health to the forefront of discussion surrounding climate change.

The Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice is dedicated to creating a better society for all by promoting social justice and policy reform through awareness raising, research and advocacy, and theological reflection. The Centre works across a number of policy areas including penal form, housing and homelessness, economic justice, and environmental justice. The Centre is an agency of the Irish Jesuit Province. 
 

Just Forests was founded in 1989 in response to global deforestation working on global poverty-related tropical forestry/timber issues from a local development perspective. Just Forests uses society's dependence on wood and the ongoing decline in global forests as a tool to establish links between terrestrial biodiversity, 'development' conflict, climate change and poverty.

LASC is an initiative for cultural promotion, development education and campaigning solidarity, linking Ireland and Latin America.

The Liberia Solidarity Group (LSG) is dedicated to the creation of a mutual learning partnership between Ireland and Liberia which promotes justice, peace, equality and human rights through collective action and sustainable development. We are concerned to support those working in Liberia to achieve these goals through the development and implementation of education, enterprise and community development activities, including actions that promote or enhance the status of women.

MEG is a community environmental group that seeks to promote good environmental and sustainable living practices throughout Mountmellick, County Laois. It is currently implementing a Waste Management Plan which was drawn up in conjunction with the Race Against Waste team. MEG joined the Stop Climate Chaos coalition as it believes that collaboration with like-minded groups has greater potential in effecting change.

NYCI has joined the Stop Climate Chaos coalition because young people are greatly concerned by the issue. Climate change will have an enormous impact on the lives of young people in Ireland and around the world and young people engaged in youth work want to see effective action taken to combat it.

Oxfam Ireland joined Stop Climate Chaos because we believe that climate change is a grave and fast increasing threat to the lives and livelihoods of the poorest people of the world, the very people whom Oxfam seeks to assist. Urgent action is needed to tackle this threat. Only by acting together we achieve the change necessary to prevent climate chaos.

People's Climate Ireland

Presentation Ireland was established by the Presentation Sisters to develop their work in learning innovation, social inclusion, human rights and ecology. We believe that climate change is a major global justice issue affecting the lives of the poorest of the poor and the coalition is a mechanism for connecting with political leaders in addressing this issue.

Self Help Africa is an international development organisation working through agriculture and agri-enterprise to end hunger and poverty in sub-Saharan Africa. Our vision is a rural Africa free from hunger and poverty. Our mission is to support sustainable livelihoods for Africa’s smallholder farmers, through farming training, climate-smart agriculture, micro-finance and more.

In our work, the impact of global warming is already being felt. It is hitting the poorest, most vulnerable communities first and further undermining their ability to build sustainable livelihoods. Climate change is perhaps the biggest global justice issue of our time and one that requires political leadership.

The Union of Students in Ireland (USI) is the sole national representative body for students in Ireland and represents 374,000 students in over thirty member colleges across Ireland, North and South. Throughout its history, USI has worked relentlessly in the pursuit of student rights in all areas of the student experience. The goal of USI is to work for the rights of students and a fair and equal third-level education system and society in Ireland.

Vita is an Irish international development agency with field offices in the Horn of Africa. Founded in 1989, and originally called Refugee Trust International (RTI), Vita's vision is to forge long-term international partnerships which bring an end to extreme poverty, reduce vulnerability and increase the sustainability of people's livelihoods by Building Sustainable Livelihoods.

Voice of Irish Concern for the Environment (VOICE) has joined the Stop Climate Chaos coalition as campaigning in this area is a vital part of the organisation's work. In the past, VOICE has worked extensively on the Stop Esso campaign, which targeted the multinational due to its bad environmental record. VOICE 

Young Friends of the Earth are a volunteer activist group working to advance global climate justice by mobilising and inspiring people to join the movement in Ireland.