The Climate Change Advisory Council (CCAC) has called for “appropriate incentives and support” for farmers in meeting climate targets.
The CCAC published its Annual Review 2023 this morning (Tuesday, July 25), outlining where Ireland is at in terms of meeting its emissions reductions targets across various sectors of the economy.
The agriculture sector is required to reduce its emissions by 25%, compared to 2018, by 2030.
According to the CCAC, the agriculture sector will overshoot this target based on current trends.
To address this, the CCAC recommends that farmers be supported to diversify on-farm activities to reduce emissions and enhance carbon removals, at the same time as “co-benefits” are pursued for climate change adaptation, water quality and biodiversity.
These supports for farmers, the CCAC said, should be provided on the basis of payments for ecosystem services.
The review mentioned the recently published new Marginal Abatement Cost Curve (MACC) from Teagasc, saying that the MACC identifies pathways to meet the agricultural sectoral emission ceiling by 2030.
The CCAC said that government should ensure a rapid uptake of the “proven and effective” mitigation measures across the agricultural sector.
The measures highlighted by the CCAC include a reduction in average finishing age for beef animals by three months; replacing 90% of calcium ammonium nitrate (CAN) fertiliser and 100% of straight urea with protected urea; the use of feed additives to reduce enteric methane in half of dairy cows; and uptake of diversification options to “displace” 140,000 livestock units.
Livestock units refers to animals. One livestock unit refers to one dairy cow, or one male bovine aged over two years.
These changes, the CCAC said, will require providing appropriate incentives and support including advisory services, training and resources.
The climate body also called for the National Biomethane Strategy, which the CCAC says is due in quarter three (Q3) of 2023, combined with the Renewable Heat Obligation Scheme, to clearly set out “holistic policies” for income diversification opportunities for farmers; the volumes of fossil fuel substitution and emission reductions expected; and the potential for employment in the rural economy.
According to the CCAC, farm diversification measures for agriculture that were identified in the National Climate Action Plan 2023 could not be incorporated in projections by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) “because of a lack of detail in policy design and plans for implementation”.
The CCAC recommended in its review that these policies and measures are sufficiently detailed to ensure inclusion in subsequent EPA projection scenarios.
The CCAC review also called on the government to “invest strongly in consumer information initiatives, with the support of retail outlets and consumer organisation, to better inform consumer choice in relation to sustainable diets”.
Such initiatives should include cross-sectoral issues of food waste and food packaging, the council said.
The CCAC claimed that these measures would “provide the necessary market signals to food processors and primary producers to enhance the environmental sustainability of the food system”.