At the end of November, 29  Climate advocates from 11 European countries visited Ireland for a unique international networking event, ‘Business in a Low Carbon Economy’. Irish Minister, Eamon Ryan officially opened the event on the first evening and a high level panel discussion on the potential of the Green New Deal for Northern Ireland (UK) and Ireland then took place. During the following two days, advocates working on business-related projects had the opportunity to get to know each other, to learn about each others projects and to share ideas on how business can play a part in reducing greenhouse gasses.

Advocates also met experts from Ireland, Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK, in order to gain knowledge on climate change and explore what businesses, livelihoods and enterprises will be needed in a low carbon economy. Organisations represented included Business in the Community, PricewaterhouseCoopers, BT, Vodafone, the British Embassy in Ireland, the Institute of European Affairs and Embercombe Ltd. The business event culminated in a ‘Learning Bus’ trip which took advocates on a visit to the Cloughjordan Eco-village. The eco-village is being built to demonstrate best practice in energy generation, ecological building, local food production, sustainable livelihoods and community-level governance.

 According to Matt Burney, Director of the British Council in Ireland, “The impact of climate change will be most felt by future generations. That’s why the British Council is investing in supporting young people to become advocates for climate in the fields of business, policy and human behavior. The Challenge Europe business event in Dublin and Cloughjordan is timely, as it is part of exploring and testing business products and models which will be central to building smart economies on the island of Ireland, as well as in Great Britain, Europe and across the globe.”