Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Senator Higgins asked a valid question on amendment No. 23, which proposes the insertion of a new subsection (5B):

The Government may make regulations to specify the base year in relation to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions for budget periods after 31 December 2030.

This amendment has been introduced to recognise that the current Bill embodies the programme for Government commitment to halve emissions from 2018, which was the first year to which the commitment in question could refer, in the decade to 31 December 2030. This amendment will facilitate any future Government that may seek to provide for a similar timeline target and will ensure it does not have to amend the legislation to do so.

This is incredibly complex in terms of the various base years. The ultimate base year, from a UN climate perspective, is 1990. All of our anthropogenic emissions are measured from that date. The Paris Climate Accord is central, based from 2005. Within the Paris Agreement, Ireland works through the EU so our nationally declared contribution is part of the whole European approach. That is where the European regulations kick in.

This is a huge opportunity but we should not underestimate the challenge in terms of land use emissions. There is real potential income for farming as we rewet certain land, as we do agriforestry and forestry and as we restore peatlands, but there are also real challenges. Our net land use emissions in 2018 came to approximately 4 million tonnes, so the emissions are greater than the sinks from the whole land use sector. We can radically change that, and get an income for farming as we do so, but there are also changing factors. The land use change and forestry mechanisms, the reduction in forestation we have seen in recent years and the clear-felling of certain forests have meant that we have a whole range of moving parts. This presents a real and significant challenge for us in meeting our targets.

We have to focus on 2050. The key target is a net zero economy then. The work we start now in land use and nature-based solutions will really start kicking in over subsequent decades. It takes time for forestation to deliver carbon sinks. The curve of emission reductions from bog rehabilitation shoots up in the second decade, but not necessarily in the first. These amendments are being proposed to facilitate regulations to provide for that. It does provide opportunities but no one should underestimate the challenges in land use as well in as other sectors.I appreciate the support, as I have heard it, from the Senators.