Farmers’ Contribution to Reducing Emissions in Other Sectors Must Be Recognised

IFA President Tim Cullinan said that farmers must be recognised for the contributions they are making to reducing emissions from other sectors.

“The reality is that in addition to a legally binding target of 22%, farmers will also be contributing to reducing emissions from other sectors,” Tim Cullinan said.

“The 2021 Climate Action Plan already clearly shows farmers are contributing to other sectors achieving their reduction targets,” he said.

The plan shows that while the expansion of Anaerobic Digestion (AD) will reduce farming emissions by between 100,000 and 200,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, it will actually deliver a reduction of 400,000 tonnes for the energy sector,” he highlighted.

“Other measures such as forestry and carbon farming are currently counted in the Land Use and Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) sector and not towards reducing agricultural emissions,” he added.

“The figures being used by some NGOs to try turn the general public against farmers are based on one person’s analysis which has not been robustly peer reviewed. In fact, it is already being publicly questioned by other academics,” the IFA President said.

“To say that the difference between 22% and 30% amounts to in terms of cost per household or cars on the road is speculative at best,” he said.

“The reality is that the Climate Action Plan shows that farmers are helping other sectors to reduce their emissions,” he said.