€5 million secured for climate action coverage in Irish radio and TV

Green Party Ministers Catherine Martin and Eamon Ryan have teamed up with the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) to grant €5 million in funding to 25 radio and TV projects under the Broadcasting Fund Sound and Vision Scheme, with climate change as the focus.

The Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, together with the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, welcomed the announcement by the by the BAI of the award.

The funding will be spread across 24 stations for over 1,200 new radio programmes on climate action. The funded projects include climate-driven documentary, entertainment and educational programming, with a quarter of the projects to receive funding aimed at the 15-34 age group.

The new grants will hopefully give media a ‘powerful role to play in building climate literacy, creatively and with public’, a press release today reads.

The awards are being made under a dedicated Climate Change and Climate Action Round of the scheme, which has been co-funded by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media and the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications, to support new and relevant content to raise awareness of climate change and climate action.

Speaking today, Minister Martin said “The media sector continues to have a key role in informing and educating on the impact of climate change, but also in promoting awareness and highlighting the positive actions which we can take as we strive to achieve our climate targets. The projects being announced today will provide interesting and relatable content not just on climate change, but importantly on what we can do to help stop and reverse its effects.”

Catherine Martin. Copyright Miguel Ruiz.

The Government made a commitment under the Climate Action Plan 2021 to provide support for the development of relevant media content, including through the independent production sector, to provide innovative ways to engage with audiences on the topic.

Minister Ryan, added: “I wish to congratulate the 25 broadcasters and programme makers who have been awarded this funding. These projects will deliver innovative and creative content on climate action, awareness and empowerment to homes across Ireland. We know from our Climate Dialogues throughout 2022 that people want to know more about climate change, and importantly what they can do to play their part in addressing it. Media has a powerful role to play in building climate literacy, creatively and in a way that people can relate to.”

Details of the successful awardees, which include 10 radio and 15 television projects, of which 5 are bilingual or in Irish, are available here.