Did you see our Report Card in the news?

We’re holding the Government to account on their promises

As the media chatter about this year’s Leaving Cert results quietens down another series of “exam results” has hit the news. Results that will have an impact on all of our futures. These results are not assessing students’ academic performance… but the Government’s progress on environmental issues! 

For the last three years we’ve commissioned a panel of independent expert judges to evaluate the Government’s progress on its own climate and environment commitments - as set out in the Programme for Government. Their analysis forms a report card that outlines the Government’s performance over the last year. It’s an important tool to help us hold the Government to account on every one of their environmental commitments - making sure they’re not forgotten, ignored or reneged upon. 

This year the Government received a C + grade overall, up marginally from a C grade last year. You can download a copy of the full report card, and see how the Government performed in nine different climate and environment subcategories, on our website here.

 

Each year we work hard to get lots of media attention on the report card results. It’s a powerful way to ramp up pressure on the Government to keep its promises. We were delighted to get a huge spread of media coverage on the report card this year - across print, digital and broadcast media. You can listen back to a clip about it on RTE Radio One here, read an Irish Times article about it here or a piece in the Examiner about it here. 

This report card means a lot to us because it has a real impact. 

It puts pressure on the Government as a whole - and on the individual ministers with responsibility for each of the areas assessed in the nine subcategories. We know that the Government cares about the report card results because they talk to us about it! Since we started commissioning the report card a couple of years ago we’ve been contacted by politicians and civil servants with questions and comments about this assessment - so we know they’re paying attention. And this year, for the first time, the Government felt the need to issue a statement in response to our Report Card. They’re clearly feeling the heat!

Climate and environment commitments are much too important to be forgotten or ignored. By working together we can - and are - pushing them higher up the political agenda.