The Citizen’s Assembly on climate change

This is the 3rd of 5 questions that the Citizens Assembly has been mandated to consider in the course of its existence.

Over the course of 2 weekend the Assembly heard from 20 different experts on climate change and climate policy and have now issued a series of recommendations to the government to bring Irish climate policy up to the standard of our EU partners.

Agriculture

The big policy suggestions were focused around some of the more sensitive rural industries such as peat production and agriculture. Both have seen declining profit margins in recent years and tough markets, but are also two of the bigger contributors to climate change in Ireland that have regularly escaped scrutiny. As a result, the suggestion that all peat subsides to be ended in the next 5 years is a sharp course change for the industry and will no doubt elicit a sharp rebuttal.

Additionally, the call for a tax on the greenhouse gasses produced by the agricultural sector is a wakeup call for the Irish Farmers Association. They have long opposed any such tax on the basis that it is impractical and would undermine the viability of many farms across the state. However, the agricultural industry has been the biggest producer of greenhouse gasses for decades according to the EPA, and has thus far escaped the sanctions that other industries have endured. If this policy begins to gain traction the IFA could be set for a major legislative battle.

The assembly also recommended that farmers should be rewarded for land measures that reduces carbon such has planting of trees or other carbon sinks, though this is unlikely to be of much comfort to farmers.

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