Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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273. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine in view of the fact that removals of greenhouse gases resulting from the LULUCF sector are not counted towards the European Union’s 20% greenhouse gas emission reduction targets for 2020, the way it is proposed to reduce emissions from the Irish agriculture sector up to 2020 to help meet Ireland's binding obligations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43240/14]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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My Department is aware of the need to identify cost effective abatement measures that can reduce carbon emissions while at the same time improve farm profitability. The Environmental Analysis Report on Food Harvest 2020 found that the adoption and use of high technology and best production methodologies at farm production level will yield the best environmental outcomes and result in the most effective mitigation measures. The new Rural Development Programme (RDP) 2014-2020 is being informed by the findings and recommendations in this report and the ‘Marginal Abatement Cost Curve for Irish Agriculture’ (September 2012 prepared by Teagasc), which identified a number of measures for the abatement of greenhouse gases.

The RDP 2014-2020 has been designed to support the smart green growth message of Food Harvest 2020 and thus encompass the themes of technology, efficiency and sustainability. The main elements of the programme include:

- a substantial new agri-environment/climate scheme (GLAS), which will build on the progress made under REPS and AEOS;

- incentives for on-farm capital investment, which will incorporate support for investments with clear sustainability benefits;

- knowledge transfer and innovation measures including support for the European Innovation Partnership, which are aimed at underpinning farm viability, sustainability and growth through the adoption of best practice and innovative solutions;

-a new beef data and genomics programme will have a range of benefits in terms of sustainability, profitability, animal health and welfare, quality assurance, and herd quality; and

-other supports aimed at collaborative farming, artisan producers and organic farming.

My Department chairs an Agriculture Climate Change Committee, under the auspices of the Food Harvest High Level Implementation Committee which undertakes work on important and urgent issues in the development of national and EU policy on agriculture and climate change. The Committee comprises representatives of Teagasc, Bord Bia and the Environmental Protection Agency, and has helped to inform the development of a discussion document as part of the low carbon roadmap process under the Heads of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2014. The discussion document will be made available for public consultation shortly.

Following this public consultation, the agriculture sector low carbon roadmap will be developed and it will take into account the targets in the industry’s Food Harvest 2020 strategy as well as existing mitigation commitments. The roadmap will also outline a longer term view and seek to balance the objectives of allowing the food industry to grow so as to meet the food security challenges that face the world as well as the need to meet future climate change ambition.

While removals of greenhouse gases resulting from the LULUCF sector are not counted towards the European Union’s 20% greenhouse gas emission reduction targets for 2020, they are still counted under international agreements and, as such, Ireland has a target to expand forest cover from the current 11% of the land area of the country to 18% by mid century, with all of the expansion coming from agricultural land. The current forestry programme envisages an annual afforestation programme of 8,000 ha by 2020 with an estimated cost to the state of the afforestation programme since 1990 and out to 2030 of €3.5 billion. This very significant investment towards climate action will remove an estimated net 5.2 million tonnes of CO₂per annum over the period 2021-2030.

My Department will continue with its positive engagement with the Commission in seeking a coherent approach to agriculture and land use.