The Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill seems set to be made law this week.

Amendments accepted by Minister for the Environment Eamon Ryan from Seanad members last week have divided opinion, but were passed by the Dáil on Wednesday afternoon.

With the Oireachtas taking its summer recess at the end of the week, the bill is expected to return to the Seanad on Thursday or Friday for final approval.

While accepting the amendments, Minister Ryan suggested that these offsets could be made available to the transport sector,

Tim Lombard, the Fine Gael senator from Cork, who is a farmer, proposed the main amendment recognising carbon removals.

There followed a rather confusing series of events. Minister Eamon Ryan last Friday told the Seanad that he was accepting the amendment.

While accepting the amendments, Minister Ryan suggested that these offsets could be made available to the transport sector, saying it would be easier to change agriculture than transport. The Green Party leader is Minister for Transport as well as Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications.

It is understood that the Minister for Agriculture Chalrie McConalogue and senior officials in the Department worked to ensure that the carbon removals from agriculture would not be taken to be used to offset emissions in other sectors, but instead remain available as offsets for farming.

Next steps

With the bill set to be passed into law, all eyes now turn to the sectoral targets that will be established to meet the 51% reduction now set out as a legal obligation for Ireland to meet by 2030.

Brian Leddin, the Limerick Green Party TD who chairs the Oireachtas Climate Change Committee said on Tuesday that the Government will “draft regulations which detail how removals and emissions are accounted for and which minister can use removals to meet their sectoral emissions ceilings”.

Farming may still face a fight to be the beneficiaries of the sector’s own carbon sinks.