Coveney downplays EU climate report
Mr Coveney said the report provides an EU-wide assessment of GHG mitigation policy options up to 2030 in agriculture.
The minister said it is acknowledged in the report that different assumptions could be made on availability and uptake of mitigation options, and agricultural productivity growth, which could alter the results in the report.
The Joint Research Centre report was raised in the Dáil by Fianna Fáil agriculture spokesman Éamon Ó Cuív.
Mr Coveney responded: “The analysis confirms what Ireland has been saying in recent years to the commission. If there are blunt emissions reduction targets for agriculture that do not take account of the limited cost-effective mitigation options, then reduced production and land abandonment is the major risk associated with compliance.”
He also noted that the report reinforces the October 2014 European Council Conclusion that multiple objectives of the agriculture and land use sector, with their lower mitigation potential, should be acknowledged, as well as the need to ensure coherence between the EU’s food security and climate change objectives.
He said Ireland continues to engage in intensive discussions with the European Commission to highlight the importance of a coherent EU approach to food security and global climate change ambitions.
He said the Irish view is that policy must:
* Encourage genuinely sustainable land management and forest product uses that contribute to climate change mitigation and enhance soil and forest carbon stocks.
* Strongly promote sustainable intensification of food production to reduce the carbon intensity of food production and to contribute to both food security and greenhouse gas mitigation objectives.
* Seek to move as far along the road to carbon neutrality as is possible in cost-effective terms, while not compromising our capacity for sustainable food production.
