The new Climate Action Plan will aim to incentivise farmers to reduce livestock numbers on a voluntary basis from next year.

The strategy, which was published by the government this afternoon (Wednesday, December 21), sets out measures to accelerate the actions needed for Ireland to meet its climate change targets.

Climate Action Plan 2023 will provide the government with a framework to achieve the legally-binding carbon budgets and sectoral emissions reduction ceilings agreed in July.

This included a 25% cut in emissions from the agriculture sector.

Agriculture accounted for a third of Ireland's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2021, which was down slightly on the 2020 figure.

However, the plan said that this was not due to fewer emissions from the sector but an overall increase in emissions from other sectors of the economy.

Emissions from the agriculture sector have grown 19% over the last decade.

Climate Action Plan 2023 outlines 15 specific measures for the agriculture sector which are earmarked for delivery or implementation next year.

This includes the rolling out the recommendations of the Food Vision dairy and beef groups.

The plan aims to support land use diversification options for farmers, including anaerobic digestion (AD), forestry and tillage, as a way to incentivise the voluntary reduction of livestock numbers.

It also includes measures focused on reducing the use of nitrogen (N), improving animal breeding and developing a feed additive to reduce emissions.

The government has committed to delivering a national biomethane strategy within six months and will seek funding to develop a biomethane industry.

The full list of proposed actions for 2023 are as follows:

The Climate Action Plan 2023 also sets out a roadmap of further measures for the sector up to 2025.

However, further detail on funding which will be crucial to deliver the proposed measures has yet to be revealed.

It is intended that an annex to plan, outlining more detail on the actions, will be published early in 2023.