Are there hints of hope that the fossil fuel era is beginning to end?

The latest report from the Climate Change Advisory Council has shown that summer 2025 was the hottest summer on record for Ireland, and the European State of the Climate Report for 2025 has revealed that Europe is the fastest warming continent on the planet. 

The climate crisis is devastating. It is the defining global issue of our time, and addressing it could not be more urgent. It is shattering people’s lives across the world, and its impacts are deeply unequal. The bitter irony is that the poorest countries, which have emitted the least carbon, are being hit the hardest by extreme weather. 

Not only does the crisis impact people in a deeply unequal way, it is caused in a deeply unequal way too. The richest are emitting vastly more carbon through luxury lifestyles, while the poorest are struggling to heat their homes and put food on the table. Oxfam’s research shows that someone in  the world’s richest 1% emits 14 times more carbon than someone in the bottom half of earners. This is true in Ireland too.

Furthermore, the frantic fight for fossil fuels is bringing illegal actions and conflict from Venezuela to Iran, which is resulting in thousands dead and millions displaced and in need of urgent humanitarian assistance.

The approach in Colombia differs from the painfully slow progress of the annual COP global climate talks. Those COP conferences rely on consensus, and thus can get paralysed by blocking petrostates. It took almost thirty years of negotiations for COP to even mention fossil fuels in the final declaration. The hope now with the Santa Marta conference in Colombia is that a smaller group of countries with higher ambition can accelerate the renewable revolution.

Already, significant strides are being made. Last year, renewables supplied 46.4% of Europe’s electricity, almost half of our electricity needs, while fossil fuels fossil fuels accounted for less than a third. Globally, for the first time since 1919, coal was knocked off the top spot of the largest source of electricity globally, with renewable energy being the top energy source for 2025. The transition is well under-way.

While the negotiations have now concluded in Colombia, Ireland has demonstrated leadership by announcing that we will co-host the follow up summit next year at the small island state of Tuvalu. This sends a strong signal that we are willing to play a leading role in developing a global roadmap to transition away from fossil fuels.

Yet at the same time, we must match this with concrete actions at home. We are significantly off track when it comes to our own climate targets, and we are well behind the EU average when it comes to emissions reductions. Ireland has the second highest per capita emissions in the EU, second only to Malta.

Ireland needs to take bold action to step up our climate ambition. As well as accelerating emissions reduction, we should be looking to make the richest polluters pay for the crisis and to fund the transition. This could involve introducing a wealth tax on Ireland’s growing super-rich, as well as Ireland supporting an EU windfall tax on fossil fuel companies in response to the current energy crisis. To support the global transition, we should be also increasing our climate finance to global south countries.

Yes, there is cause for cautious optimism that we can end the deeply unequal fossil fuel era, but there is no room for complacency. With the right ambition, we can build a more sustainable economy that would benefit us all, and we can build more equal and peaceful societies. None of us is economically secure, none of us are safe while we let climate chaos destroy lives, livelihoods and whole regions. Our very future depends on this. 

Garry Walsh is Campaigns Manager with Oxfam Ireland