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A series of amendments have been tabled to the Climate Change Bill to support the agriculture sector.
DAERA Minister Edwin Poots will bring amendments forward for debate at Further Consideration Stage next week, 28 February 2022.
The amendments are to ensure the agriculture sector is not being unfairly burdened as part of the Assembly agreed net zero target for Northern Ireland, and also to fix some of the significant drafting issues created by Consideration Stage amendments.
Speaking about the intention to bring forward amendments to his Bill, Minister Poots said: "I know the Northern Ireland agriculture sector fully recognises the climate challenges we face and they have already put a range of steps in place to helps us tackle the issue together. There is widespread acceptance of the need to minimise the impacts of climate change in both the agriculture and environment sectors – but this must not be to the detriment of one particular sector which is a vital part of our economy.
"I have therefore proposed, for Further Consideration Stage, some amendments to my Executive Bill, most notably, two amendments to provide some degree of protection for our agriculture sector. The first is to ensure that, in the context of aiming for net zero emissions by 2050, the level of reductions in methane emissions is not required to be more than 46% lower than the baseline year (1990). Importantly, this is consistent with the IPCC and CCC evidence and advice in regards to reducing methane to achieve long term temperature goals in the Paris Agreement. The next amendment is to remove emissions from agricultural sources from the net zero target."
The Minister added: "The vast majority of the other amendments I have put forward to be considered for Further Consideration Stage are technical amendments which are necessary to make the Bill a more coherent piece of legislation. Unfortunately there was not time to fix all drafting issues so therefore in line with best practice, I have put forward amendments to fix the most significant issues."
