Written answers

Wednesday, 30 June 2021

Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Photo of Michael LowryMichael Lowry (Tipperary, Independent)
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342. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if the State has assumed the ownership or beneficial interest or any other rights to all or any of the carbon sequestered in Irish forests both private and public; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35031/21]

Photo of Michael LowryMichael Lowry (Tipperary, Independent)
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343. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his views on whether it is legitimate for a landowner or trust to afforest land under his Department’s afforestation grant and premium scheme and to retain ownership or claim or beneficial interest in the carbon sequestered on the same land; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35032/21]

Photo of Michael LowryMichael Lowry (Tipperary, Independent)
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344. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his views on whether it is legitimate for a landowner or trust to afforest land on a non-grant-aid basis and to retain the ownership or claim or beneficial interest in the carbon sequestered on the same land; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35033/21]

Photo of Charlie McConalogueCharlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 342 to 344, inclusive, together.

There is no inherent private property right to greenhouse gas emissions or removals by forests, whether on lands held by the State or privately owned. The State does not own it - it is merely accounting for it as part of international reporting obligations.

Under the agreed Effort Sharing and LULUCF regulations, EU Member States must account emissions and removals of greenhouse gases from the land-use, land use change and forestry sector during the 2021 to 2030 period. Where this sector results in a net reduction of greenhouse gases, a limited amount of removals may be accounted by the State against Ireland’s overall emissions reduction target. On the other hand, if this sector results in a net emission or production of greenhouse gases, this too must be accounted by the State.

Agriculture can be a significant source of emissions as well as forests fires, disease and deforestation. These regulations specifically avoid creating an accounting obligation for private individuals or companies to account for emissions and removals individually or on land holdings. The existing regulations set out targets and an accounting framework for EU Member States and do not create a private market for forest carbon credits or debits.

Forest owners and organisations can of course pursue voluntary initiatives in the trading of carbon and other corporate social responsibility mechanisms as long as they do not impact on the State’s reporting and accounting obligations. Such models do exist in other Countries but this is matter for landowners or their representatives to pursue.

The State’s obligations to report greenhouse gas emissions and greenhouse gas removals in the land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF) sectors are set out under Regulation (EU) No 525/2013, while its accounting obligations are set out in Decision No 529/2013/EU up to 2020 and Regulation (EU) No 2018/841 (“the LULUCF Regulation”) for the period 2021-2030. These relate to the EU's international commitments and obligations under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the associated Kyoto Protocol and Paris Agreement.

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