The National Dairy Council (NDC), the private farmer and EU-funded representative body for Irish dairy farmers, has called for clarity and visibility in the way sectoral emissions targets are set in the Climate Action Bill.
It wants key undertakings in the bill – due to be signed into law this week – to be acted upon and given proper weight and consideration.
The NDC has said that it was happy that the bill, before going before the Seanad, was in line with the Programme for Government (taking into account the distinct characteristics of biogenic methane).
The NDC also noted that it was in line with Article 2 of the Paris Agreement of 2015 (managing the impacts of climate change without threatening food production) and acknowledged the risk of substantial and unreasonable carbon leakage as a consequence of measures implemented by the state.
Amendments to climate bill
The NDC has welcomed two further amendments to the climate bill that will see carbon sequestration by Ireland’s grass-based, family-farmed dairy sector offset against emissions when setting carbon budgets.
However, the council has emphasised that further understanding of how carbon sequestration will be measured and value calculated is needed.
The NDC said that failing to act on these considerations regarding sectoral emissions targets (carbon budgets), has the potential to threaten Ireland’s post-Covid-19 economic recovery and its ability to manage the negative impacts of Brexit .
This would happen as a result of suppressing the country’s dairy industry, its 18,000 family farms and the 60,000 jobs that it sustains, according to the NDC.
This would then threaten farm incomes and livelihoods and could lead to increased global emissions through ‘carbon leakage’ – dairy production moving to less carbon efficient or non regulatory-compliant regions.
Impact on export markets
Zoe Kavanagh, chief executive of the NDC, said that potential adverse impacts of the Climate Action Bill could be felt across Ireland and beyond, into the country’s export markets.
“The Climate Action Bill, as it stands, should be extended a cautious welcome,” Kavanagh said.
“In its treatment, for example, of biogenic methane – the GHG [greenhouse gas] that forms the bulk of emissions from the dairy industry – we are pleased that the Climate Action Bill is aligned with the Programme for Government, which clearly states that CH4 (methane) should be differentiated from carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels.
“The latest amendments to the bill are also encouraging, recognising, as they do, and for the first time, that our grass-based dairy farming ecosystem and the land management efforts made by our farmers, remove society’s carbon emissions from the atmosphere and have a beneficial effect on the country’s overall climate impact.
“Irish dairy meets this definition of sustainable food and sustainable dietary choices. It is nutritious, safe and healthy, culturally acceptable and affordable; it can be maintained in the long-term, and it is both economically and environmentally protective (WHO guidelines),” she added.
“Ireland’s dairy industry is inextricably linked with Ireland’s economy and its society and the cost to our country, and (through the potential for carbon leakage), the world, will be heavy if we cannot begin to differentiate between emissions from cars and emissions from cows.”