Mr. Bill Callanan:

I thank the Chair for the opportunity to address the joint committee on carbon storage and sequestration in agriculture. As the Chair set out, I am joined by my colleagues, Ms Deirdre Fay, head of the Department’s climate change and bioenergy policy who is online, and Mr. Fergus Moore, head of forestry sector development who is with me.

The recently published climate action plan 2021 sets out what is needed from each sector to achieve the overall economy-wide 51% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, as legislated for in the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act. Achieving this ambitious but necessary target will require action across all sectors of the economy, including both agriculture and the land use, land-use change and forestry, LULUCF, sectors. The plan highlights the important role that our land and forests can play in storing and sequestrating carbon. The climate action plan outlines a series of measures and actions to enhance the storage and sequestration of carbon. I will discuss these in more detail, but first I would like to address the committee on the direction that discussions on the role of carbon storage and carbon farming are taking at both the European Union and national level. It is also important to highlight that in considering the opportunity for carbon storage, it is first important to recognise that our land is a net emitter at present, principally driven by emissions associated with peat soils, historically drained and now in agricultural use.

I will now address carbon storage and removal and an enabling framework. Carbon removal offers the potential for a new income opportunity for farmers. Farmers in Ireland are already provided with incentives to engage in actions that can lead to greenhouse gas reduction, including through afforestation, organic farming and the green, low-carbon, agri-environment schemes, GLAS. However, discussions on developing carbon farming or trading schemes are at a much more embryonic stage. Carbon storage and carbon farming have been highlighted in the Green Deal, the farm to fork strategy and within the Fit for 55 package. They are seen as key activities in stepping up Europe’s climate ambition.

Carbon farming overall is a relatively new concept with pilots and business models evolving across Europe, including through peatland restoration, management of carbon in soils and both forestry and agroforestry activities. Certification and regulation structures are also emerging. The European Commission will launch a policy communication on carbon farming by the end of this year, with a Commission proposal on a certification scheme due by the end of 2022.

Within the climate action plan 2021, and building on the actions in Food Vision 2030, we have committed to exploring the development of a carbon farming model, with the potential for trading and which rewards farmers for emissions reductions and removals, including through potential private sector investment. This is in line with the EU's policy direction. Such an approach will require the establishment of baseline data, auditing, the development of voluntary carbon codes, leveraging of private financing through public-private partnerships, PPPs, and the putting in place of governance structures. A Department-led working group has recently been established to progress this work and assess the potential for an Irish-based carbon farming market offering, keeping in line with EU activity in this area.

It is essential to recognise that the Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, has a key role to play in the establishment of a carbon farming through an enabling framework, including through research, development and demonstration, co-operation, knowledge transfer, farm advisory services and behavioural change. However, and importantly, as I have just highlighted, any framework must look to opportunities for support from private finance as we consider the opportunities associated with carbon storage.

The sector is not starting from a point of inaction and there are a number of initiatives and measures that are already happening that will provide a solid foundation on which to build. These include the woodland environmental fund, WEF, run by the Department. The fund is an early example of an initiative which makes a payment for ecosystem services, including carbon. It is aimed at the restoration of Ireland’s once vast native forests. The objective of the fund is to facilitate the planting of more of these diverse woodland habitats and avail of their proven environmental benefits.

WEF funding is a once-off single payment of €1,000 per hectare paid by a participating business to the landowner involved. This payment is a top-up to premiums paid by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine as part of the native woodland component of the Department’s afforestation scheme. The WEF payment is made once the forest is established and has been approved by the Department. The fund provides an access point for individual businesses to help expand Ireland’s native woodland resource by providing additional incentives to encourage landowners to plant new native woodlands that they may not have otherwise planted had the additional support not been provided. This relationship benefits the State by contributing to national targets regarding native woodland afforestation. It also enhances the reputation of the participating business, as that business will be associated with the creation of a tangible environmental asset that will become a permanent feature of the landscape.

The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy McConalogue, and the Minister of State at the Department, Senator Hackett, announced a number of new research projects and pilot studies in recent months in order to build the knowledge and evidence base to support a carbon farming initiative. In so doing, they stressed the importance of monitoring, reporting and verification of data to enable the proper functioning of a carbon accreditation scheme. For example, the national soil sampling programme will provide valuable data. Not only will it provide soil nutrient and pathogen analysis detail for up to 10,000 farmers but it will also provide nationwide soil carbon analysis and identify peat soils on farms across the country.

The European innovation partnership, EIP, re-wetting pilot projects will provide us with studies on locally-led, innovative and a results-based farm schemes, rewarding farmers for managing farmed peatlands and raised bogs. The establishment of a national agricultural soil carbon observatory with supporting technology will provide measurement of greenhouse gases and ammonia emissions, as well as fluctuations in carbon levels from a range of different soil types under different farm management approaches. A national soil moisture monitoring network will be established and will gather data that will be necessary for our understanding of the fluctuations in soil carbon.

Teagasc has also recently commenced a research project titled, Farm-Carbon - Farm Hedgerows and Non-forest Woodland Carbon. This project will provide a deeper understanding of hedgerows and non-forest woodlands as carbon stocks in agricultural landscapes and will allow researchers to identify approaches to maintain and enhance this contribution. The forest carbon tool, developed by Teagasc in conjunction with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, also provides indicative data for potential carbon sequestration associated with new tree planting and includes data for specific tree species, both native and non-native. All of these projects will place Ireland at the forefront of EU carbon sequestration research, while allowing for the refinement of our reporting through the national inventory and further improving the sustainability of the agricultural sector.

A question often asked is who owns the carbon sequestered from the atmosphere in our forests, soils, grasslands and hedgerows. The Minister, Deputy McConalogue, has indicated that the State is not seeking to trade the carbon sequestered on Irish farms. The State is, however, obliged to report and account for all national greenhouse gas emissions under Ireland's EU and international obligations. That includes sequestration and emissions from forestry and land-use management practices. That does not imply ownership but simply reflects the requirement for those reductions and emissions to be included in the national inventory reporting and accounting system.

Ireland's forests make a significant contribution to climate change mitigation and remove large amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. They are also significant stores of carbon. The Department's national forest inventory records that over 312 million tonnes of carbon are stored in our forests - in the soil and in the trees themselves. This is a significant carbon store, and it is important we maintain and expand our forest area in the future.

The Government and the EU have provided over €3 billion in funding since the 1980s to create over 300,000 ha of new forest. These forests have been planted by more than 23,000 farmers, who benefit from annual premiums and the sale of timber products. Continued afforestation is key to balancing emissions and removals in the land-use sector. Forests also provide harvested wood products which continue to lock up and store carbon in the timber used in buildings. Using timber instead of energy-intensive materials such as concrete and steel also has a benefit in reducing our dependence on fossil fuels. The Department recognises the importance of forests, the timber they produce and the use of sustainably produced biomass for energy. We will continue to support the creation of new forests and fund research and innovation in the use of timber products.

I will now outline to the committee carbon storage and sequestration measures in the climate action plan 2021. As members may be aware, there are an estimated 300,000 ha of carbon-rich peat soils under agricultural management in Ireland. This accounts for between 7% and 9% of all agricultural land. As a consequence of artificial drainage to improve the agricultural productivity of these soils, the rate of carbon dioxide emissions from this area is far above that which is observed from similar undrained peat soils, where natural moist conditions occur. These emissions, when calculated over such a large area of land, represent a significant portion of overall greenhouse gas emissions from the land-use sector and, consequently, are a challenge for our overall efforts to combat climate change. The Department recognises the important role peat soils and wetlands play as a carbon pool in the Irish landscape. Action must be taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from this source. Through reduced management intensity, including the management of drainage systems and water table manipulation of these peat soil areas, it is possible to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions while also creating additional ecosystem benefits such as increasing biodiversity value and protecting water quality.

A key target under the climate action plan is to reduce the management intensity of 80,000 ha of these lands by 2030. Improved management practices of at least 450,000 ha of grassland on mineral soils, which will increase the level of carbon sequestration in these soils, are also identified in the plan. Improved management practices, such as increased time to reseeding, expanding the amount of legumes such as clover in the sward, thus avoiding soil compaction, and employing long-term pasture management plans, all contribute to a healthier soil and a healthier soil sequesters more carbon.

The plan sets out an ambition to increase the area of cover crops in tillage to at least 50,000 ha by 2030. Introducing a cover crop over the winter period for spring sown cereals increases the amount of carbon dioxide removed from the atmosphere through photosynthesis and made available for sequestration in the soil. The incorporation of straw in the tillage area is a further action to remove carbon. Chopping and incorporating straw back into the soil in cereal crop systems increases soil organic carbon matter by returning such matter directly back into the soil. The climate action plan 2021 recognises the importance of the built environment and the timber produced from our forests, which will play an ever-increasing role. While a lot of focus is on increasing levels of afforestation further, we must also recognise and promote the increased use of wood across all sectors of the economy.

I hope this opening statement has given members of the committee a good overview of the current activity in respect of carbon storage and sequestration on agricultural lands and within our forests and future activity in this area to ensure that farmers are recognised and rewarded for their environmental actions. My colleagues and I will be happy to answer any questions members may have.