Ireland day 0941. Friday 26 April 2024- IIEA Conference *

Ireland day 0941. Friday 26 April 2024- IIEA Conference

Today’s summary	Came into Dublin to attend an all-day conference on Net Zero, at the Royal Dublin Convention Centre. Encouraging and dispiriting in equal measure, but some excellent speakers. A walk around the demesne with Val then the rest of the evening in Malahide (for once!)
Today’s weather	Bright sunny and dry. Moderate northerly wind. Appx 9c

Today’s overview location (The grey mark shows the location of my route)		Close-up location (The orange line shows where I walked) (Click button below to download GPX of today’s walk as recorded, or see interactive map at bottom with elevations corrected): Walk to Dublin Royal Convention Centre

Commentary

(Summary blog only. Last full blog was Day 0368).

Despite yesterday’s whirlwind trip to the UK, after a good night’s sleep, I wasn’t resting on my laurels today.

Val was meeting a friend in Malahide, who was visiting from the USA, and I came into Dublin to attend a conference. It was formally titled “ACCELERATE 2024: The Transition to a Net Zero Future”. It was, in general terms, a review of global progress towards the various targets set by the COP and other processes.

It was both encouraging and dispiriting in equal measure. There seemed to be a general consensus that reaching net zero by 2050 would be challenging, but that (globally) by 2070 was feasible.

The costs of renewables have fallen surprisingly fast and there was a general recognition that mass adoption of low carbon solutions would only happen if they were cheaper, better or safer than the fossil alternatives. With renewable price falls, this was becoming a feasible proposition. But the pace of climate change seems to be accelerating and tipping points may already have been passed. The 1.5c temperature rise “ceiling” set by COP seems likely to be broken in the next couple of years, and 2c by the end of the 2030s.

Anyway, it was good to be a part of an engaged and dynamic audience, and to see some interesting players, including Minister Ryan, who holds the energy portfolio in the Irish government.

Aside from the conference, the sun shone and the sky was blue, which made a welcome change from recent weeks. In the evening, once back in Malahide, Val and I stirred ourselves to make the best of the late sunshine to head off on a walk round the demesne. Lovely, but it’s still feeling quite cold, though.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Bank of Ireland building in College Green before the crowds arrived this morning	At the top of D’Olier Street – a colourful streetscape

Salamanca tapas bar, in St Andrews Street. Tengo que probarlo!	The Convention Centre, in 1 Ship Street Great. So new that if you look on Google Earth, it’s just a building site!

Keynote speaker Michael Liebreich about to kick off proceedings. I’d read a lot of his work and was keen to hear him speak. He was impressive	My favourite tree enjoying the sun in the Demesne this evening

The Convention Centre is brand new and very smart. It’s just behind the Castle. I didn’t even know it existed