Minister Eamon Ryan appointed to key role by Azerbaijan COP Presidency
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From: Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications
- Published on: 10 October 2024
- Last updated on: 12 April 2025
- News of appointment comes as Minister Ryan prepares to take central role at global climate conference next month
Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications Eamon Ryan has been officially appointed to a key role at COP29, which takes place in Azerbaijan in November, where he will work alongside his counterpart from Costa Rica as part of a 'Ministerial Pair'.
This is the first time that an Irish Minister has been selected to take on a senior COP Presidency role. He will co-lead negotiations on climate adaptation with Franz Tattenbach, Minister of Environment and Energy of Costa Rica. COP29 will take place this year in Baku between 11 and 22 November.
The COP29 Presidency has identified adaptation and adaptation finance as "an important priority" for this year's global climate conference. It is an urgent issue which deals with the actions, and the financing, required to build resilience and protect people, livelihoods and ecosystems from the impacts of climate change. This could include building flood defences against rising tides, constructing roads and infrastructure that is resilient to extreme weather patterns, or undertaking smart planting that can absorb excess moisture in flood conditions or provide shade in areas that are exposed to extreme heat, for example. The world has seen unprecedented weather patterns again this year, most recently in Florida, USA.
Minister Ryan said:
“I look forward to taking on the role and am conscious of the responsibility it involves to help find agreement among nearly 200 countries at a global level on the most pressing issue facing us all. Adaptation has been described as the action we can take to save lives today. It reduces our carbon emissions so it also protects people into the future, particularly when we apply nature-based solutions to climate impacts. Adaptation is vital to us in Ireland, to farmers, to how we build infrastructure and how we plan where we live. But in developing countries it is particularly acute. They are too often the countries and states that are being hit most, that are already feeling the brunt of climate change right now, and that do not necessarily have the capacity to respond to it themselves.
“I have been asked to take on this role, partly because of my prior experience as a negotiator at the past two COPs, but primarily because of Ireland’s reputation in overseas development and diplomacy and because of the excellent work of our civil servants. We tend to have a very strong connection with small island states and developing countries and we have a strong legacy and reputation in adaptation particularly through our overseas work and funding focus.”
Ministerial pairings see a Minister from a developed country and a Minister from developing country work together as part of the wider COP Presidency team to negotiate with countries and blocs like the Small Island Developing States or the EU to help reach agreement on the final COP text. The pairings are tasked with understanding more about where these blocs stand on current priorities and perspectives, and then identifying possible opportunities and barriers to help facilitate progress on each key issue. The COP Presidency team also includes the “Troika” which consists of the past, present and future COP Presidencies, to ensure that progress made is a continuum.
The announcement was made officially by the Azerbaijan COP Presidency during pre-COP which is taking place this week in Baku, where pairs really begin to escalate political engagement ahead of COP29. It was made alongside confirmation of Ministerial pairings on the related issues of Mitigation (what needs to happen to keep 1.5 alive) and Article 6 (how countries can pursue voluntary cooperation to reach their climate targets). Announcements on Ministerial pairings for Climate Finance (NDQG) and Transparency were made previously.
ENDS
Notes to the Editor
About COP
The Government of Azerbaijan will host the 29th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), also known as COP 29, with a view to building on previous successes and paving the way for future ambition to effectively tackle the global challenge of climate change. The meeting comprises the twenty-ninth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 29), including the nearly-200 nations that territories that have signed up to the UNFCCC.