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Livestock Issues

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 19 January 2022

Wednesday, 19 January 2022

Questions (2023)

Matt Carthy

Question:

2023. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the position of his Department on GWP* v GWP100 with regard to the global warming impact of methane from livestock production systems; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2536/22]

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Written answers

I thank the Deputy for this question, this indeed is a topical issue within the climate debate globally. At the outset, it is important to highlight that the international accountancy framework is a matter for my colleague, Minister for Energy and Climate Change Eamon Ryan, T.D.

At the time of Kyoto, policymakers accepted the principle of GWP100, this would mean all gases, both long lives gases such as nitrous oxide, and short lived climate pollutants such as methane would have their global warming potential compared to carbon dioxide over a 100 year time horizon. 

The Paris Agreement is clearly focused on temperature goals and, therefore, many scientific experts feel that GWP* better reflects the global warming potential of each individual greenhouse gas.  However, GWP100 is the universally accepted accounting system used by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and it will be difficult to achieve global consensus on the most appropriate metric in the short-medium term. The sixth Inter-govenmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Assessment Report, published last year, indicated that GWP100 overstates the warming impact of methane by a factor of 4 or 5. For this reason, I have worked to ensure that, in line with the Programme for Government commitment, that the distinct characteristics of methane, combined with the social and economic importance of Irish Agriculture were recognised in the range outlined for the sector in the 2021 climate action plan. As you will be aware, the sector will need to reduce emissions by 22-30% from 2018 levels.

Finally, and this is very important, regardless of what metric is used in the national inventory, methane emissions from the livestock will need to fall to avoid continued impact on global warming.

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