Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 28 June 2022

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action

Sectoral Emissions Ceilings: Discussion

Mr. Bill Callanan:

No, I am just talking in regard to the 22% and that gap. Within a broadly stable herd, there is a requirement for new technology to fill that gap. We have been very clear in that regard, including what is in the Climate Action Plan 2021 on new technology. It is developing fast. By way of example, we have invested in research and there is a project called GreenBreed at Tully, where we have animals that are basically identical and look identical, but have quite different emissions profiles in terms of methane. A lot of our emissions are associated with the animal. I am a scientist at heart. If one can find that difference, one can breed for it and select for it and, consequently, the ambition and expectation is that one can translate that into inventory. However, it takes time before we get that certainty that is needed because it is the inventory that will determine our success or failure. That inventory is driven by science and it is up to us to then provide the science and what is the reality, whether it is feeding or breeding. The European methane strategy identified three objectives, namely, feeding, breeding and anaerobic digestion. We would concur with that but it then has to go through a process of establishing, first, is it working, second, it is it validatable, and, third, is it transferable into the inventory? It takes time for them to feed through.

Comments

No comments

Log in or join to post a public comment.