On Wednesday February 5th Dr. Tadhg O’Mahony Assistant Professor in Environmental Policy at UCD hosted the architect of the Welsh Future Generations Act, Jane Davidson, for a day of events. Jane is a former Welsh Minister and a high-profile international advocate of mainstreaming sustainable development, of listening to the voices of future generations and of…

In the debate on economic growth, including the classic Simon–Ehrlich wager, some have argued that science and technology will enable sustained growth of consumption without harmful growth in the use of natural resources by doing more with less. Others propose that this is not possible, emphasising absolute limits in the carrying capacity of the Earth,…

I was invited to appear at the Irish parliament’s Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action on Tuesday 24th of October 2023, alongside Dr. Martha O’Hagan Luff of TCD and Dr. Emer Ní Dhúill of Natural Capital Ireland. The Committee were considering the recommendations contained in the Citizens’ Assembly on Biodiversity Loss Report relating…

The consultation for the draft Dublin City Centre transport plan to 2028 is now open until the 1st of December. It’s a step in the right direction, seeking to reclaim the city from being one of the most car congested cities in the world, and all of the problems that has created. It doesn’t work…

Energy efficiency is a major plank of policy efforts to reduce carbon emissions worldwide, but has not been delivering on its promise. This has long been a topic of research, for more than 150 years, since William Stanley Jevons noted the invention in Britain of more efficient steam engines meant that the use of coal…