The EU intends to pay farmers to capture carbon on their farms in its bid to reach carbon neutrality by 2050, the head of the European Commission’s climate division has said.

Senior EU officials are drawing up plans for new schemes to incentivise farmers to remove carbon from the atmosphere and store it in soils, hedgerows or trees.

In Ireland, carbon is currently priced at €26/t but this is set to rise to €80/t by 2030.

Permanent grassland in Ireland is estimated to sequester between 0.3t/ha and 0.9t/ha of CO2 per year, depending on management practices.

There are 4.1m hectares of grassland in Ireland. Based on the current carbon price of €26/t, grassland sequestration could be worth €32m to €96m per year. At €80/t, it could be worth up to €295m annually.

Hedgerows and woodlands are estimated to capture an additional 1.6t of CO2/ha each year, which could add even more carbon value to farms.

Speaking in Dublin last Thursday, Dr Artur Runge-Metzger of DG Climate said agriculture would be instrumental in Europe achieving carbon neutrality, because farms and forests can suck carbon out of the atmosphere, unlike any other industry.