What drew you to work at OG?
I was drawn to Opportunity Green because our work is impactful and bold, shining a light on sectors that have long avoided meaningful accountability. What makes OG particularly powerful is the depth it brings to the issues: legal, analytical, scientific and policy expertise all within one organisation. What more could an advocate need?
I’ve spent my career working on corporate accountability, climate and human rights, so the role with OG in Ireland felt like a natural progression. It offered a chance to bring strategic advocacy experience to bear on one of the most underregulated corners of climate policy in Ireland and globally: international aviation.
I was also struck by how Opportunity Green had identified Ireland’s Presidency of the Council of the EU (beginning in July 2026) as a critical moment for advancing aviation climate policy. It impressed me that OG had the vision to build dedicated capacity in Ireland to lead that work.
What has changed since you started?
In Ireland, aviation climate policy has moved from the margins to the mainstream of policy debate surprisingly quickly. When I joined OG, the conversation about extending the EU Emissions Trading System to international flights was largely technical and niche. Now it’s something I’m presenting on to the Oireachtas EU Affairs Committee ahead of Ireland’s EU Council Presidency and co-hosting roundtables on in the European Parliament.
The Irish Government’s proposals to permanently lift the Dublin Airport passenger cap have sharpened the debate considerably and made the case for proper carbon pricing harder to ignore.
The political stakes have risen and so has the urgency.
Another significant development was securing philanthropic support from Community Foundation Ireland for this work. Winning funding for advocacy focused on hard-to-abate sectors is notoriously difficult, so securing such bold support was a real vote of confidence in the importance of what we’re doing.
What are you most proud of being involved in since you joined?
Publishing my first report ‘Closing Ireland’s aviation climate gap’ for Opportunity Green was a real milestone, particularly because aviation was a new policy area for me.
Digging into the data was genuinely shocking: the scale of tax exemptions the sector enjoys, the emissions trajectory if the airport cap is removed, and the absence of any credible government plan to reduce aviation emissions. The report set out a concrete alternative, a fair air-travel levy generating €6.3bn over five years, expansion of the EU ETS to international flights, and revenues channelled into a just transition. Getting that analysis into public debate, and into correspondence published in the Irish Times, felt like meaningful progress.
What inspires you about what you’re working on?
The aviation industry is a powerful lobby. For too long, aviation has operated under a privileged regime, exempt from fuel taxes that every other sector pays and shielded from the full cost of its pollution. Other industries, and ordinary taxpayers, have been left to pick up the bill.
Meeting Astrid Puentes Riaño, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, to discuss Ireland’s specific responsibilities, was a powerful reminder that aviation emissions affect real people, disproportionately those who fly the least. Connecting climate law, economic fairness and human rights in a single policy argument is exactly the kind of work I find most compelling.
What are you looking forward to in the coming year?
Ireland’s EU Council Presidency is a genuine opportunity. If Ireland is serious about climate leadership, bringing international aviation fully into the EU ETS has to be part of that agenda, and we’ll be pushing hard to make sure it is. I’m also looking forward to building more coalitions across civil society, business and government on these issues. The arguments are strong. The economics stack up. Now it’s about making sure the right people hear them at the right moment.
