The next CAP should mandate every farmer to plant trees, Minister for Climate Action Richard Bruton told the EPA climate conference in Dublin on Wednesday.

"Every farmer has a responsibility to do some planting, not just some of them," he said. "It will have to be a feature of the CAP when it comes along."

Minister Bruton also confirmed that his all-Government climate plan, now due in a month's time, will include a specific emissions target for agriculture. Work is under way to "identify targets at sector level", he said, recognising that agriculture was often the target of finger-pointing. The suggestion met immediate opposition from farmer representatives when the minister first made it at the IFA AGM earlier this year.

Asked about a new New Zealand government proposal to treat methane from livestock separately from other greenhouse gases, Minister Bruton pointed out that we already have EU targets across all gases and said that efforts within that would focus on "reducing our carbon footprint in the most cost-effective way", including through directions on land use in the longer term.