Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for raising this Commencement matter. It is a topic both us of are excited about. We are at the precipice of seeking huge transformation and it will be driven largely by the farm families of Ireland.

Anaerobic digestion and the indigenous production of biomethane is a clear commitment within the climate action plan 2023. This plan sets a target of up to 5.7 TWh of biomethane, which will be a threefold increase on the ambition within the previous climate action plan. I emphasise that the delivery of the 5.7 TWh of indigenously produced biomethane remains an energy-led policy, while acknowledging the agriculture sector and farmers have a leadership role to play. The overall development of the sector, given its early but growing stage, will be primarily driven by appropriate energy policies and supports, which remain responsibility of the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications. The level of ambition is set in the climate action plan, which firmly recognises the important contribution of biomethane production to delivering renewable energy targets, decarbonising industry with a high thermal heat load and providing alternative land-use options for farmers.

Alongside opportunities for farm income and land-use diversification options for farmers, the anaerobic industry represents a pathway for farmers to reduce fertiliser usage through the increased availability of digestate which will also have positive climate change implications. Reaching the ambition of 5.7 TWh of biomethane is firmly rooted in the achievement of the sectoral emissions ceiling for agriculture.

My Department has a key regulatory role to play when using animal by-products as feedstock for anaerobic digestion. Animal by-products have an important role to play in development of our biomethane capacity and their use will help Ireland to develop an indigenous biomethane industry.

To build out an anaerobic digestion industry of scale to deliver on the climate action plan requires a multiplicity of stakeholders across government, farmers, businesses and regulators to come together to align policy, incentives, regulations and markets. This is why, together with the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, we have committed to the development of a national biomethane strategy by quarter 3 of this year, to make it a priority to provide a strategic direction for the industry. This strategy will identify the necessary actions to deliver the 5.7 TWh. The strategy will be agri-led, farmer-centric and will contribute positively to the sectoral emissions ceiling for agriculture, as well as to the decarbonisation of the energy system. The strategy will focus on issues such as security and sustainability of feedstocks; demand-side considerations and end users; regulatory requirements and policy alignment; and financial supports, be they capital or operational in nature. It will also be cognisant of the wider community, with topics such as scale of plant and location of plants being addressed. That is something the Senator raised in her contribution. This strategy is being developed through a project steering group on anaerobic digestion and biomethane under the auspices of the task force on heat and the built environment, which is chaired by the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan.

In parallel and in recognition of the requirement for an operational support mechanism, a renewable heat obligation scheme will be introduced in 2024. This obligation will incentivise supplies of all fuels in the heat sector to ensure a certain proportion of the energy supplied is renewable. The Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications is carrying out a scoping exercise to develop options for the structure of the renewable heat obligation. We are going to see a decade of change for Irish agriculture but equally a decade of opportunity. Anaerobic digestion can be a viable opportunity that can work for farmers, the environment and our emissions reductions targets.