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Climate Change and the Cultural and Creative Sectors

Climate disruption will have diverse and wide ranging impacts on Ireland's environment, society, economic and natural resources that will require behavioural, social and cultural transformation. Exploring how the arts, culture and heritage sectors can be used to promote dialogue around this pressing issue in ways that are provocative and engaging will be an essential part of this transformational process.

In June 2019, the Government launched the “Climate Action Plan to Tackle Climate Breakdown” that clearly identifies the nature and scale of the challenge to move Ireland towards the goal of net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

As part of this debate, Creative Ireland commissioned a report, Engaging the Public on Climate Change through the Cultural and Creative Sectors, that represents an initial, high-level, two-month period of research into how the cultural and creative sectors can play an essential role in enabling people to understand, interpret, and engage with many aspects of climate change.

5Cube, Hanover Quay, Grand Canal Dock, Dublin

Dublin City Council and Codema launched the 5Cube as part of their involvement in the EU Ace project, which is funded by the INTERREG IVB NWE programme.

The 5Cube is Ireland’s first renewable energy design feature and is a physical representation of how much oil Ireland is consuming every five minutes. The aim of the 5Cube is to get citizens thinking about our dependency on fossil fuels and to consider renewable sources of energy that are cleaner, and ultimately cheaper, alternatives. The 5Cube was designed by Declan Scullion of de Siún Scullion Architects.

The report outlines how the cultural and creative sectors could engage with and enhance citizen awareness and understanding of the challenges and decisions associated with transition to a carbon-neutral society. In particular, it examines how to foster relationships between relevant local authority officials and Climate Action Regional Offices (CAROs), how to ignite interest and develop understanding of the potential offered by the cultural and creative sector to engage citizens on climate and identifies possible actions across the wider Department and under Departmental programmes.

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