The Climate Change Advisory Council
Membership of the Climate Change Advisory Council is established under the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015 (as amended). The Council consists of a chairperson and not fewer than 8 and not more than 13 ordinary members, including ex-officio members from the EPA, Teagasc and Met Éireann.
The Climate Change Advisory Council publishes the agendas and minutes of its meetings, along with those of its Adaptation Committee and Carbon Budgets Working Group.
Alex White
Alex White is the Chairperson of the Climate Change Advisory Council.
He is a Senior Counsel and Accredited Mediator. He is the Director General of the Institute of International and European Affairs. He is a member of the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board and of the Board of Trinity College Dublin.
He was the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources during 2014 to 2016 and Minister of State at the Department of Health during 2012 to 2014. He has been a TD (Oireachtas Committee chair 2011-2012), a Senator (group leader), and a member of two local authorities.
Prior to commencing legal practice in 1994, he was a radio producer with RTÉ. He is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin (Economic and Social Studies) and of the King's Inns.
Dr. Cara Augustenborg
Dr. Cara Augustenborg is an Assistant Professor in Landscape Studies and Environmental Policy with a Doctorate in Environmental Science and Engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She received both a Fulbright Scholarship and Walsh Fellowship to conduct her doctoral research at Teagasc in nitrogen recycling for livestock waste management from 2003-2007. Since then, she has held a variety of roles in academia, Government, and the environmental NGO sector, including as Chairperson of Friends of the Earth Ireland and Friends of the Earth Europe until 2019. She is an Honorary Member of President Michael D. Higgins’ Council of State and presenter of the environmental radio programme, ‘Down to Earth with Cara Augustenborg’, on Newstalk.
Prof. Morgan D. Bazilian
Professor Morgan D. Bazilian is Director of the Payne Institute and Professor of public policy at the Colorado School of Mines. He was previously Lead Energy Specialist at the World Bank, and a senior diplomat at the United Nations. He has been a lead negotiator for the EU at the UN climate negotiations. He is a Member of the US Council on Foreign Relations.
Prof. 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 and is Co-Chair of the All-Island Climate and Biodiversity Research Network, Senior Editor of Journal of Ecology and is 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.
Dr. Eimear Cotter
Dr. Eimear Cotter is the Director General of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), appointed in March 2026 and served as a Director in the EPA since 2017. As Director General, she is Chair of the Executive Board and operational chief executive of the EPA and is responsible for leading and strategically managing the EPA.
Eimear holds a BA (Mod) in chemistry from Trinity College Dublin, a PhD in atmospheric chemistry from Oxford University and an MBA from UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School. She is a Board member on the Governing Board of the Institute of Art, Design and Technology and the Governance Committee for the MaREI Research Centre. Eimear is a 2019 Eisenhower Fellow. She was formally a Board member on the National Statistics Board (2017-2023).
Prof. 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.
Patricia King
Patricia King is the former General Secretary of ICTU. She is a former vice-President of SIPTU and also served as one of two vice-Presidents of Congress. A full time official with SIPTU for over 25 years, she was the first woman to serve as a national officer of the union when she was appointed vice-President, in May 2010. She has represented workers in all areas of the economy, in both the public and private sectors. Patricia was a lead negotiator in both the Croke Park and Haddington Road agreements. She played a leading role in the Irish Ferries dispute (2005/6) and in subsequent negotiations that saw an overhaul of employment rights law and the establishment of the National Employment Rights Authority (NERA). Patricia served on the boards of the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) and the Apprenticeship Council. She is currently on the Court Services Board and the Board of Uisce Éireann, and is a member of the Housing Commission.
Jillian Mahon
Jillian Mahon is an experienced executive and director with wide ranging general and specialist management experience across the private, public and international finance sector. Since 2019 she has been an independent business and financial consultant working in an advisory capacity in the public and private sector both domestically and within the EU, particularly in areas of risk management and sustainability.
Previously Jillian held senior roles in the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA), initially with the NPRF/ISIF and from 2014 on the project team establishing the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI) and thereafter in the role as Head of Funding, Risk Sharing and Strategic Initiatives with that state agency.
Prior to these positions, Jillian had an extensive executive career in capital markets banking ultimately holding the role of Treasurer in AIB. She holds a BA, MBA and Prof Dip in Corporate Governance (UCD) and CISL Certificate in Sustainable Finance from University of Cambridge.
Eoin Moran
Eoin Moran is the Director of Met Éireann, the Irish Meteorological Service, and has responsibility at Assistant Secretary level to lead and strategically manage Met Éireann. He also sits on the Management Board of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. He was appointed to his current role in 2016 having served on Met Éireann’s senior management team since 2007 and joining Met Éireann in 1995.As part of this role, Eoin also leads Ireland’s representation to the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), EUMETSAT, ECMWF, EUMETNET, ACCORD, HIRLAM, UWC. He is currently the 2nd Vice-president of the WMO, and Chair of the EUMETSAT Council.
He served as the Chair of the ECMWF Policy Advisory Committee between 2019 and 2023 and Chair of the EUMETNET Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee between 2015 and 2019. He has extensive experience with several international scientific and technical bodies, including IUGG-IAGA and WMO-GAW.
Eoin holds a BSc (hons) and MSc in Mathematics from National University of Ireland, Galway and a higher Diploma in Corporate Governance from the University College Dublin, Smurfit Business School.
Prof. 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.
Prof. Frank O’Mara
Professor Frank O’Mara took up the role of Director of Teagasc on 1 October 2021. He joined Teagasc in 2006 and has been Director of Research since 2009. He is an agricultural scientist and sustainable livestock systems specialist, with over 30 years’ experience in technical and senior managerial capacities in Agri-Food research, education and development institutions. He also contributes to various national and EU committees and bodies, review panels and scientific advisory boards, and became President of the European Animal Task Force in 2020. He was a Lead Author on the fourth assessment report of working group III of the IPCC. He was appointed Adjunct Professor in UCD in 2017.
Prof. Peter Thorne
Prof. Peter Thorne is the director of the ICARUS climate research centre at Maynooth University. He is a Coordinating Lead Author on the sixth assessment report of working group I of the IPCC and a member of the core writing team for the IPCC sixth assessment report synthesis report. He is chair of the Global Climate Observing System’s Atmospheric Observations Panel for Climate. He serves on several World Meteorological Organisation groups. He has led H2020 and Copernicus Climate Change Service contracts.