Orla Kelleher

👏 Orla is currently conducting engaged research on EU and Irish climate law on behalf of EJNI.

Check out this recent piece in the @irishlegal.com on why ambitious emission reduction targets and carbon budgets for 2040 are crucial for intergenerational climate justice 🎯✊

Short op-ed by me explaining the importance of ambitious 2031-2040 carbon budgets and EU 2040 targets for intergenerational climate justice. These are critical moments to level with the public about the scale of the emission reduction challenge.

@maynoothlaw.bsky.social @ejni.bsky.social

Opinion: Ambitious emission reduction targets and carbon budgets for 2040 crucial for intergenerational climate justice Dr Orla Kelleher of Maynooth University School of Law and Criminology calls on Ireland to show greater leadership and ambition on climate action.

Dr Orla Kelleher of Maynooth University School of Law and Criminology calls on Ireland to show greater leadership and ambition on climate action. @maynoothlaw.bsky.social‬ @orlakelleher.bsky.social‬

What If They Fixed It? A hypothetical, but not impossible story by Orlagh Gaynor, physiotherapist with Irish Doctors for the Environment, inspired by ideas from…

A beautiful story by our very own Orlagh Gaynor.

Climate action is about so much more than cutting emissions. A greener, more sustainable, and healthier future for all is possible 🌱

Please give it a read and share it with your friends and family 🌍

Quote: An obligation to quantify each country’s fair share of the remaining global carbon budget associated with limiting global heating to 1.5°C flows from the judgment in KlimaSeniorinnen.

How wide is the margin of appreciation that states have when setting national carbon budgets under the ECtHR’s KlimaSeniorinnen judgment? 🌍📉

@andrewlrjackson.bsky.social and @orlakelleher.bsky.social explain why the margin is narrower than argued on this blog.

verfassungsblog.de/quantifying-...

Constitutionalising Environmental Rights - attending launch of important research by @orlakelleher.bsky.social and Mary Dobbs in collaboration with @clmirl.bsky.social from @maynoothuniversity.ie

Exciting development for Irish climate law, the Supreme Court has granted leave to appeal Coolglass v An Bord Pleanála
courts.ie/viewer/pdf/4...

Ban fossil fuel ads: Stop airlines, airports, cars and cruise liners from advertising Members of Irish Doctors for the Environment outline why a push against fossil fuels is key to truly tackling the climate crisis.

We’ve breached 1.5ºC.

The climate crisis is an unprecedented health crisis — through air pollution, extreme weather, food insecurity, displacement, and more.

Fossil fuel ads are fuelling the fire. It’s time to ban them. #BanFossilAds

With global warming closing in on 1.5C, one aspect is clear: some countries' emissions have exceeded their fair share.

To deal with this, we present the concept of carbon debt in a new paper in @pnas.org.

Lead author @setupelz.bsky.social explains in a long thread 👇🧵

Short piece written w/ @orlakelleher.bsky.social for Rundale. We discuss the anti-democratic Planning and Development Act passed last year and consider its implications for movements seeking environmental justice in Ireland.

www.rundale.org/2025/03/27/o...

We have fantastic speakers lined up for our upcoming webinar on "Shaping a Fair and Effective Social Climate Plan for Ireland"🗣️

Last chance to register ➡️: us06web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

“A colossal missed opportunity” - a clear message in a new report from from Ireland’s fiscal and climate advisory councils.

Instead of taking action to cut emissions (making energy cleaner & more secure, & diversifying farming) we face €26 billion in compliance costs to meet EU targets

Big reason for the public view is that our politicians, department, advisory & academic experts have AGREED Irish deep climate action IS feasible,
BUT they have abjectly failed to communicate to the public what is REQUIRED: enforced limits on high emitting activities eg. diesel, dairy, data centres.

All eyes turn to the upcoming Supreme Court appeal in Coolglass, which will settle (hopefully) the legal obligations under the Climate Action Act 2015.

Coming out soon in Public Law from @mdobbs26.bsky.social and me, an account of how environmental principles have been impacted by Brexit, looking in particular at the High Court's strained approach to the "due regard" duty in the @rightscommaction.bsky.social case:

ssrn.com/abstract=513...

A line graph depicting global CO2 emissions from energy and industrial processes, along with projections from 2000 to 2100. The y-axis represents CO2 emissions in gigatons (Gt), while the x-axis marks the years. A highlighted target to keep global temperature rise below 1.5°C in 2100 is at 20 GtCO₂/yr by 2030. Also show is a line showing decrease in emissions equivalent to what occurred during the pandemic. The line misses the target by about 8 GtCO₂/yr in 2030.

A constant reminder that even if CO₂ emissions decreased annually as much as they did during the pandemic lockdown from now to 2030, we still wouldn't meet our emission target to keep global warming below 1.5°C.

Revealed: The €9 billion fossil fuel footprint in Irish private pensions The new data shows for the first time the the average exposure of private pensions in Ireland to fossil fuels

“At least €9 billion from Irish private pensions is estimated to be invested in the fossil fuel sector, new analysis by the Business Post shows.
The figures are based on sustainability disclosures for 2023 made individually by Ireland’s main private pension providers”

#TransitionRisk

Great piece!

The push to undermine Ireland’s neutrality faces public opposition Despite growing calls for militarisation, polls show strong public support for Ireland’s neutrality as government pressure intensifies

Wrote this opinion piece with two colleagues in response to the concerted effort by Government, supported by conservative commentators and media, to undermine Irish neutrality.

Original title was 'Co-ordinated attack on our neutrality is anti-democratic'.

www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/comm...

Glad to see the excellent article by Andrew Jackson & Orla Kelleher in the special edition of the Irish Jurist that I edited on Law in a Time of Crises was cited in today's High Court ruling by Humphreys J in Friends II courts.ie/acc/alfresco...

We must challenge demand for critical minerals: UN rapporteur We need to "take a step back" and assess the full environmental and human rights impacts of mining critical minerals, says Elisa Morgera

“The need for critical minerals in terms of climate action is an assumption that we need to challenge"

Good comments from UN’s special rapporteur on climate change and human rights. The energy transition will require more minerals than we mine today - but minimising that = more chance of success

Environment group brings Government to High Court over climate action plan Friends of the Irish Environment is challenging the government’s 2023 Climate Action Plan in the High Court this week.

Friends of the Irish Environment is bringing the government to the High Court, arguing that it has failed to clearly outline a plan for how it will keep Ireland’s emissions within legally-binding carbon budgets.

http://jrnl.ie/6605924

🆕in @recieljournal.bsky.social: Can litigation of National Energy & Climate Plans enhance EU climate ambition? @orlakelleher.bsky.social and Clodagh Daly examine how rights-based challenges could strengthen the Fit for 55 Package implementation.

Read here: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Patrick Freyne: I am becoming a demotivational speaker – let’s all have an averagely productive December I keep meeting people who are extremely burned out. I meet them so often that I’m beginning to think burnout is something that exists by design

I'm launching a new career as a demotivational speaker (thanks to everyone who got in touch this morning - it's nice to hear it strikes a chord) www.irishtimes.com/life-style/p...

Excellent webinar, well worth watching back even for folk outside Ireland.
Chair: Rose Wall, CLM @clmirl.bsky.social
Speakers:
Prof. Kevin Anderson @kevinclimate.bsky.social ky.social
Dr. Andrew Jackson, UCD @andrewlrjackson.bsky.social
Oisín Coghlan, Friends of the Earth @oisinc.bsky.social

In the article, we explore how the EU's procedural climate governance mechanisms together with fundamental rights could be used to ensure implementation of, and or to enhance ambition of, EU's Fit for 55 Package

Litigating the Fit for 55 Package: Statutory and rights‐based challenges to national energy and climate plans as a means of implementing and/or enhancing the ambition of the EU's Fit for 55 Package Despite the growing recognition of climate change's impact on human rights, it is not clear that the Fit for 55 Package has been informed by human rights. This prompts questions as to whether human r...

New article by Clodagh Daly & I published today and available open access with @recieljournal.bsky.social

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Pages from article: IRELAND’S SECOND-GENERATION CLIMATE ACT: STILL PLAYING THE LAGGARD DURING THE CLIMATE CRISIS? (2023) 70 Irish Jurist 283

As @orlakelleher.bsky.social and I commented in a piece in the Irish Jurist in 2023, this section 15 obligation “may yet prove to be amongst the most impactful of the legal changes made to the Climate Act in 2021”!

High Court rules An Bord Pleanala must prioritise climate law in wind farm case likely to affect all public bodies The High Court has ruled that planners did not fulfil their duty to comply with climate law in a judgement expected to have far-reaching implications for all public bodies.

Very significant High Court ruling here on the obligations imposed on public bodies by Section 15 of the Climate Act
www.independent.ie/irish-news/h...

Let’s get real: Ireland’s data centre boom is driving up fossil fuel dependence At a time of climate crisis, the new Government has a choice to make between carbon budgets and economic growth at all costs

Proponents of Ireland's unchecked data centre boom accuse its critics of ideology & lacking rigorous analysis. I suggest a need for honest self-reflection on the forces that govern their own ideology – one that prioritises economic growth above all else.
www.irishtimes.com/environment/...