Mr. Fergus Moore:

It is important to note that forestry can be a source of sequestration but also a source of emissions, depending on the level of harvesting that takes place.

On the question of what the best age of trees in the context of sequestration rates, one can draw an analogy. When a forest is first planted the ground is disturbed. This disturbs the soil and releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. When the trees are planted they are quite small and because of this they sequester very small amounts of carbon dioxide. Over the following ten years, the trees become a bit bigger and gradually build in their sequestration capacity. On the question of when they reach peak performance, when trees are 15, 20 or 25 years of age they are quite tall, have lots of leaves and pull in lots of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. As a rough indication of rates, a typical conifer forest throughout its rotation of 30 or 40 years probably will sequester on average about 6 or 7 tonnes of CO2 per annum.

In the context of broadleaves, over the same timeframe, they will sequester smaller amounts of CO2 amounting to about 2.3 or 2.4 tonnes. At the end of the day, broadleaves will grow for much longer periods in the context of rotation lengths. They also sequester roughly the same amounts of carbon eventually. In hard figures, 1 ha of forest made up of 70% conifers and 30% broadleaves will sequester roughly 380 tonnes of CO2. It is also important to make the point that once the forest sequesters that CO2, it reaches saturation point whereby it cannot absorb much more. The notion that the forest will continually sequester for 100 years has to be dispelled. It also depends on the soil types used for growing. Certain species growing in productive soils will sequester a lot faster. Trees growing on the top of mountains will grow a lot slower and will sequester CO2 at a slower rate. In answer to the question, between 20 and 30 years of age is when the trees are at their peak performance.

In relation to afforestation targets, any afforestation that we plan now, up to 2030, will not make a significant impact on the total carbon sequestered because the trees are small. Once we go beyond 2030, those trees will start to get bigger. Therefore, afforestation is really important for our post-2030 targets. On the climate action plan, the Climate Change Advisory Council asked how Ireland can benefit from the 2030 sequestration impact of these trees and it brought forward the notion of carrying forward those carbon removals. The climate action plan provides a figure of 2.9 million tonnes of carbon, which we reckon our forests will sequester on 8,000 ha or thereabouts.

On calculating carbon at a farm level, we obviously calculate carbon on a national level based on our national forest inventory and the detailed monitoring that takes place. To assess carbon at a farm level, I will draw a comparison with the UK woodland carbon code which is practised based against a UK carbon standard. The forests are measured for farmers and the plantations then placed on a register. That register can be offered for sale to a person or business who wants to enter a voluntary carbon market. That is something we are looking at. As Mr. Callanan said, we will find out next month what the Commission proposals are in relation to farm carbon. They may give us a direction with regard to how far that process can be pushed in Ireland.