Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue has welcomed recognition by the European Union of carbon emissions reductions from land.
European agriculture ministers were briefed on the Regulation on Certification of Carbon Removals at the EU’s Agricultural and Fisheries Council (AGRI-FISH) meeting in Luxembourg yesterday (Monday, October 23).
The EU presidency is currently working on a new compromise text for the regulation following input from the bloc’s Environmental Working Group.
The proposed changes from the EU Commission’s proposal for the agriculture and forestry sectors include:
- Accounting for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction (not just removals) occurring in agricultural soils under certain practices, which may result in emission reduction certificates;
- Establishment of a European Register of all certified carbon sequestration units, no later than four years from the regulation’s entry into force.
The EU presidency is aiming to reach a general approach to the proposed regulation at the EU Environment Council meeting on December 18, or earlier, if possible.
Carbon emissions
During the AGRI-FISH council meeting, Minister McConalogue spoke in support of the proposal:
“I welcome the compromise text proposal which now includes practices or processes that reduce emissions of greenhouse gases from soils and not just removals.
“This has been one of my key demands over the course of these negotiations, and while I am disappointed that reductions of livestock emissions are not included in the union certification framework, this is a welcome improvement from the original proposals.
“Farmers are constantly being asked to deliver more and it is our responsibility as Governments to ensure that they can access income streams from any evolution of their enterprises,” he added.
“Farmers want to make their farms work for not only the planet but for their families and this means that they need to be able to earn an income from those enterprises. Carbon farming is one such opportunity,” McConalogue said.
The minister recently launched a public consultation on the develop of a national carbon farming framework for Ireland.
Carbon farming aims to sequester carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere and store it in soils and reward farmers for reducing emissions and increasing carbon sequestration.
McConalogue said that a “credible framework” is a “necessary first step” to support farmers “to generate an income from removing and storing carbon in soils, forests, grasslands, croplands and hedgerows”.