Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am interested in the issue of biogenic methane versus carbon dioxide. It seems to me that there is a profound difference between a measure that actually cools the climate and a measure that slows down the pace of deterioration. That difference does not seem to be properly recognised in the way the EU measures things.

If we can achieve a reduction in biogenic or, indeed, any other source of methane, it is actually worth more to the climate than the EU inventory is attributing to it. The corollary of that is that if we can persuade farmers to farm in a way that has less methane emissions, we could actually afford to pay them more than we now reckon it. That is what causes me a little bit of concern.

One of the big issues we will have is bringing the farming sector on board with the changes that are coming. It seems to me, however, that if biogenic methane was measured in a different manner, its real value would be recognised and we could make a much better case to farmers for the economics of, if you like, farming biogenic methane to reduce it as well as to produce food. I would like to explore that a little bit with officials. We need to see some change in order that we can not only unleash some positive potential in agriculture but also reward farmers for doing it and get over what seems to me a sort of sense of rural Ireland farmers feeling that a finger is being pointed at them unfairly. I am interested to see whether there is a way of trying to find a solution in that new science that is now clear in the IPCC but is not yet expressed in the inventories used by the EU.