Ireland can achieve a 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions without reducing the herd, according to the Irish Farmers Association.
Talks on the size of the cuts to agricultural emissions are ongoing this week, with the Green Party demanding a target as close to 30% as possible.
Farmers are pushing for a target closer to 22% and talks between Green Party leader Eamon Ryan and Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue have been described as ‘tense’.
The Climate Change Advisory Council has said the sector needs to make the cuts if Ireland is to achieve its emissions reduction targets.
There are now fears an agreement will not be reached before Wednesday’s final Cabinet meeting, meaning a decision will be pushed back until at least September.
On Newstalk Breakfast this morning, the Irish Farmers Association President Tim Cullinan said he would be “very, very concerned” if the target was set any higher than 22%.
“For farmers to achieve a 22% reduction, it is going to be costly and challenging to do,” he said.
“If we were to go above and go in the region of 30%, well then there would be massive costs to the sector – in the region of €4bn per year and the potential of losing 50,000 to 55,000 jobs.
“That’s in a sector that provides 170,000 jobs in every town and parish up and down the country.”
Misinformation hurts farmers and the climate. Seeding doubt into the science and amplifying uncertainty is a well-established tactic of big oil and big tobacco to confuse the public and delay regulation.
But facts matter.
🧵 https://t.co/5Pwg0MTD2u— Hannah Daly (@HannahEDaly) July 25, 2022
The Green Party is facing opposition from the other Government parties in its attempts to set the target close to 30%.
Last night a group of six Fine Gael TDs - John Paul Phelan, David Stanton, Charlie Flanagan, Paul Kehoe, John Cummins and Garret Ahearn – published a statement calling for the cuts to be kept at the lower end of the scale.
The TDs claimed there was too much “finger pointing” towards agriculture and said the supposed 'battle between cows and climate protection' needs to end now.
Protests
Mr Cullinan refused to say whether farmers would protest if their emissions target was set closer to 30% than 22%.
“I can’t say that this morning but what I can say is, if we’re going to end up at that level, it’s going to be devastating, not just for farmers but for rural Ireland as well,” he said.
“I think none of us want to see that happening when there are ways we can work through this and ensure we bring everybody together on this journey as well.”
Misinformation hurts farmers and the climate. Seeding doubt into the science and amplifying uncertainty is a well-established tactic of big oil and big tobacco to confuse the public and delay regulation.
But facts matter.
🧵 https://t.co/5Pwg0MTD2u— Hannah Daly (@HannahEDaly) July 25, 2022
He said farmers are willing to invest in new technologies, including anaerobic digestion, solar panels, forestry and carbon farming – but only if agriculture gets the credit for the reductions they bring in.
He said there are real concerns that reductions related to new technologies will be credited to other sectors.
He insisted Ireland can achieve its goal of reducing emissions by 50% by 2030 without reducing the size of the national herd.
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