Government sets out next phase of agriculture emission target plans

Actions planned this year to reduce agricultural emissions are listed in the Government's recently published third Climate Action Plan

In 2023, lime usage fell to only one million tonnes, the decrease being mostly attributed to poor weather conditions in the second half of the year.

This year, the Government will encourage lime application, even though spreading more lime will increase greenhouse gas emissions.

Liming of soils decreased by 26.6% in 2023, which helped to reduce overall emissions from agriculture by 4.6%. But the main cause of the reduction in 2023 is believed to be an 18% fall in fertiliser nitrogen use on Irish farms, leading to 0.43 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent fewer emissions from agricultural soils.