Changes to the Climate Action Bill to take account of agriculture’s ability to remove or capture carbon looks set to start a new battle over ownership of such removals.
here remains disagreement over whether the benefits of agriculture’s carbon sequestration potential should remain within agriculture or be used to offset Ireland’s overall emissions.
It comes as the IFA backed an amendment to the Climate Bill passed in the Seanad last week with the support of Fine Gael and Fianna Fail senators.
Described as a “game changer” by Fine Gael’s Seanad Spokesperson on Agriculture, Tim Lombard, the amendment gives recognition for carbon removals as part of new carbon budgets and sectoral targets to be developed under the legislation.
Read More
“This is a game changer for the agricultural community. It gives recognition for their ability to remove or capture carbon into our soils, our bogs and our hedgerows when it comes to the carbon budgets for agriculture,” Mr Lombard said.
Fianna Fáil Seanad Spokesperson on Agriculture, Senator Paul Daly, emphasised the importance of affording credit to the agriculture sector for the greenhouse gas their land, trees and hedgerows sequester and store.
“Farmers are leading the charge in terms of Ireland meeting our climate ambitions,” he said. “Farmers are pioneers in this regard. The sector is willing to step up to the plate when it comes to achieving our mitigation targets.
“We must recognise and reward these efforts. This amendment strengthens the recognition of carbon removal and storage in the bill.”
However, Climate Minister Eamon Ryan warned allowing for the removals does not remove the need to reduce emissions.
“Agriculture will not be the most difficult sector to change,” he said. “Maybe I am biased in that regard because I am the Minister for Transport and I am scratching my head every day thinking how in God’s name will we change transport.
“We do not have the removals capability in transport that there is in agriculture. We are wedded to the existing transport infrastructure and it will be difficult to change.
“That means agriculture also has to play its part in real emissions reductions, not just removals and sequestration. That has to be abundantly clear,” he said.
The minister said he would be “sitting down” with Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue in the coming weeks and months to “strike a good balance” between emissions reductions and removals.
“It will have to be both. For the sake of Irish agriculture and farming, there have to be real and significant emissions reductions,” he said.
This view was echoed by the Director of Friends of the Earth, Oisín Coghlan, who said: “Whatever savings there are won’t automatically be assigned to the agricultural sector.
“They may well be for the next 10 or even 20 years. But, ultimately, as we get to near-zero emissions overall, other sectors will lay claim to them as well in order to achieve net zero.
“I can well imagine CRH asking why should Glanbia get all the offsets while they have to eliminate every last tonne of their emissions,” he said.
IFA President Tim Cullinan said it had been lobbying intensively for amendments to the bill.
“There are still serious issues with the bill, particularly around the ‘distinct characteristics’ of biogenic methane, along with the need to avoid any international carbon leakage arising from the implementation of the bill,” he said.