Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 4 May 2023

Public Accounts Committee

Appropriation Accounts 2021
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine - 2021 Financial Statements
Fishery Harbour Centres

9:30 am

Mr. Brendan Gleeson:

There is one other strand to methane, if the Deputy does not mind me saying. Some environmentalists would argue that if we dramatically cut the volume of methane in the atmosphere, it will lead to cooling. With the arguments around accounting for methane, anybody can use them to suit themselves. Mr. Callanan referred to the international standards. If anything I say here is heresy, perhaps Mr. Callanan will correct me. Under international standards, there is a system of turning everything into CO2 equivalents, but there is no magic bullet in the way methane is accounted for.