8.2 National Climate Change Strategy

Climate Action Plan The Climate Action Plan follows the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021, which commits Ireland to a legally binding target of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions no later than 2050, and an economy wide reduction of 51% by 2030.

In late July 2022, the Government agreed ceilings for emissions from each sector of the economy, setting out the maximum limits on greenhouse gas emissions from each of these sectors up until the end of this decade. As its contribution to the overall 51% cut in emissions, the agriculture sector is required to cut its emissions by 25% by 2030, compared to 2018 levels.

The 2023 Climate Action Plan was launched on 21st December 2022 following the publication of the agreed sectoral ceilings for agriculture. The target for agriculture is 106MT and 96MT assigned for budget periods 2021-2025 and 2026-2030 respectively. These targets reflect challenging but achievable ones for the sector. Science and technology solutions are evolving, and significant breakthroughs are being made in areas like feed additives, which will provide viable solutions in future years. Nitrogen application is reducing and there is a focus on earlier age of cattle finishing, forestry and organics.

The production of indigenously produced biomethane, including a commitment of 5.7 TWh of biomethane production in Ireland by 2030, is firmly rooted in achieving the sectoral emissions ceiling for agriculture. Within the 2023 Climate Action Plan, there is a commitment to co-lead on the development of a national biomethane strategy with Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications (DECC), the first important step in realising this potential. Anaerobic digestion, which is the conversion of organic matter to methane-rich biogas, has a key role to play in the decarbonisation of our energy system. It provides an alternative and diversification opportunity for farmers while building our capability and capacity across the agriculture sector and the bioeconomy in general.

The CAP Strategic Plan 2023-2027 will provide funding to support many of the actions necessary in reaching our emission targets. With a budget €9.8 billion, it includes of €1.5 billion for the new agri-environment scheme ACRES, a five-fold increase in funding for organic farming to €256 million with a target to triple the area of land farmed organically to 7.5%, and €260 million for the Suckler Carbon Efficiency Programme (SCEP) to improve the carbon efficiency of the suckler herd through genetic improvement.

While this is an ambitious plan for the Irish Agriculture sector it is one that will put Ireland on a more sustainable path, cutting emissions, creating a cleaner, greener economy and society, while protecting us from the devastating consequences of climate change.

Adaptation Adaptation actions aim to reduce the impacts of climate change and to take advantage of any opportunities presented by climate change. Adaptation actions such as planting of multispecies swards, for example, are becoming more widespread due to their resistance to extreme weather conditions and they are also proven to reduce our dependency on chemical nitrogen while maintaining forage output.

Nationally, the Climate Action and Low Carbon (Amendment) Act 2021 included new provisions allowing for joint sectoral adaptation plans and placing the Climate Change Advisory Council Adaptation Committee on a statutory footing. In the Climate Change Advisory Council Annual Review 2023, it included the following recommendations for the agriculture and Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) sectors:

Government should actively support income diversification opportunities for farmers. M

Government should ensure sufficient supplies of greener forms of fertiliser are available M and launch an information programme for farmers.

Urgent consideration should be given to the opportunities for roll out of feed additives for M dairy farms that reduce methane emissions from cattle.

A streamlined process for applications for the new forestry scheme will be needed to ensure M speedy implementation.

In 2021, the Climate Change Advisory Council introduced the annual ‘adaptation scorecard’ to assess Ireland’s adaptation progress across sectors. The scorecard is based on the detailed response to a questionnaire sent out to each sector.

The assessment considers the degree to which the Adaptation Committee and Council are satisfied progress is being made in implementing adaptation policy and increasing resilience to date with respect to the following three criteria, and an overall assessment:

1. Risk, prioritisation and adaptive capacity – where sectors are identifying, prioritising and monitoring risks, are addressing knowledge gaps and building adaptive capacity.

2. Resourcing and mainstreaming – where sectors are taking future climate into account in decision making and are ensuring that adaptation is being mainstreamed and appropriately resourced.

3. Governance, coordination and cross-cutting issues – where sectors are ensuring good coherence with other policies and systemic coordination is in place, both within the sector and across other sectors.

The Adaptation Scorecard represents adaptation progress across the various sectors for the current year only and does not consider adaptation progress in previous years.

The mainstreaming of adaptation continues with adaptation measures and actions included on the Climate Action Plan 2023, the Forestry Strategy, CAP Strategic Plan (2023-2027), Food Vision, the Horticulture Strategy and the Nitrates Action Programme. Many actions would also be deemed dual benefit actions, where the benefits to adaptation and mitigation are integrated.

Outlook Under the Climate Act, the Minister for Environment, Climate and Communications must review the National Adaptation Framework (NAF) not less than once every five years after the date of approval by Government. Development of the new NAF is currently underway and is expected by the start of 2024. The new framework will also include guidelines for the sector specific Sectorial Adaptation Plans (SAP). The Climate Action Plan 2021 echoes this requirement and requires that a public consultation to inform the review be launched by the end of Q1 2022. This consultation commenced in May 2022 and closed in July 2022. DAFM completed a review of Agricultural, Forest and Seafood SAP in 2021, and the new SAP will be required by 2025.