Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 25 October 2022
98. Deputy Denis Naughten asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he plans to facilitate farmers’ trading carbon credits; if he intends to establish a verifiable framework to record and manage net carbon sequestration; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47186/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraFrmers must be recognised for their environmental ambition and rewarded accordingly - this is a real exciting area for our sector and one that I am putting farmers at the very centre.
Also, in the context of the recently agreed sectoral emissions ceilings of a 25% reduction for agriculture, the area of carbon farming is in sharper focus.
The Climate Action Plan 2021 commits to the development of an enabling framework for the potential trading of carbon credits, and which rewards farmers for emissions reductions and carbon removals, including through potential private sector investment.
I recognise the development of a carbon farming framework is very much in line with the EU’s policy direction and in December 2021 the European Commission published its communication on Sustainable Carbon Cycles outlining a roadmap for the adoption of both nature-based and technology-based carbon storage solutions.
I look forward to the upcoming proposals from the European Commission by the year end on an EU regulatory framework for the certification of carbon removals in this regard.
To gain a deeper understanding of relevant issues, I have recently convened a Carbon Farming Working Group, chaired by officials from the Department and initially drawing on expertise from across semi-state and governmental Departments to explore opportunities for the development of practices which encourage the removal of carbon in line with developments at EU level.
In the development of a carbon farming framework, the establishment of baseline data, auditing, the development of voluntary carbon codes, leveraging of private financing through public/private partnerships, and the putting in place of good governance structures will be required.
I have recently provided funding through for initiatives such as the establishment of the National Agricultural Soil Carbon Observatory, the Pilot Soil Sampling Programme and the Farm Environmental Scheme along with a number of European Innovation Partnership (EIP) research projects, to provide the required data for the development of future policy options in this area.
I strongly believe that Carbon farming is an area that will become a crucial part of the future of farming in this country. I know this will be a real opportunity for farmers to derive a new income stream for their farm and I will drive this very exciting opportunity forward.
The sky is the limit for carbon farming here and I want farmers to benefit strongly in the time ahead.
