Government appoints three new members to the Climate Change Advisory Council (CCAC)
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From: Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications
- Published on: 21 February 2024
- Last updated on: 12 April 2025
The government has appointed three new members to the Climate Change Advisory Council (CCAC). The new members will assist the council in its activities, including advising ministers and government on climate policy, conducting annual and periodic reviews of progress in furthering the achievement of the national climate objective as well as proposing carbon budgets to the Minister of the Environment, Climate and Communications.
The three new members appointed are as follows.
Professor Yvonne Buckley
Professor Yvonne Buckley is an ecologist and Professor of Zoology at Trinity College Dublin. She is Co-Director of the Climate + Biodiversity and Water Co-Centre, Co-Chair of the All-Island Climate and Biodiversity Research Network, Senior Editor of Journal of Ecology, a member of the National Carbon Budgets Working Group (CCAC) and a member of both the Royal Irish Academy and Academia Europaea. Professor Buckley is currently involved in research at the intersection of climate change, climate action and biodiversity conservation and restoration.
Professor Buckley has been appointed for a period of five years.
Professor Liam Delaney
Professor Liam Delaney is Professor and Head of the Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science at the London School of Economics. He has published widely on psychology and economic decision-making. He was previously Professor of Economics at UCD and Professor of Economics at Stirling University where he developed the behavioural science programme. He has held visiting positions at Sydney and Princeton Universities and has been a Fulbright and Marie-Sklodowska fellow.
Professor Delaney has been appointed for a period of three years.
Professor Edgar Morgenroth
Professor Edgar Morgenroth is Full Professor of Economics in DCU Business School, Dublin City University, Dublin, Ireland. He has held positions at the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), the Strategic Investment Board in Northern Ireland (SIBNI) and Keele University. He also served two terms on the National Economic and Social Council (NESC) and was a board member of the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI). He is a Fellow of the UK Academy of Social Sciences and a Fellow of the Regional Studies Association.
Professor Morgenroth has been appointed for a period of three years.
Quotes
Commenting on the appointments, the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Eamon Ryan, said:
"At the outset, I would like to express my thanks to the outgoing members of the Council for their contribution and commitment, firstly to Sinead O’Brien, and also to Professor Ottmar Edenhofer and Professor John Fitzgerald who both served on the council since its initiation. I would like to offer a special word of thanks to Professor Fitzgerald for his valuable contribution as the first chairperson of the council.
"I also wish to welcome the new members to the council, each bringing their unique experience and expertise which I have no doubt will enrich the council skillset and play a key role in advising on our transition to a climate resilient, sustainable and climate neutral economy."
Notes
Section 8 of the Climate and Low Carbon Development Act 2015 established the Climate Change Advisory Council on a statutory basis on 18 January 2016.
The appointments take into account:
- statutory requirements of the relevant Act (that appointees shall have a broad range of expertise and competences required to carry out the council’s current advisory functions)
- provisions in the relevant Act to ensure nominees shall have broad range of expertise and competences required to carry out proposed new functions
- provisions in the relevant Act to ensure gender balance and continuity of council membership (staggered terms of three to five years)