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Members of Stormont’s agriculture committee were evenly split during a vote on the Green Party’s target for NI to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045.
The target is contained within a private member’s bill which has been brought forward by Green Party MLA Clare Bailey.
As part of the Stormont process, the agriculture committee is now finalising a report on the bill before it makes its way back to the NI Assembly for further debate by MLAs.
At last week’s committee meeting, members voted on whether the committee supported the legally binding target of net zero by 2045, with four MLAs voting for and four voting against.
The target was supported by Sinn Fein’s two MLAs on the committee, Declan McAleer and Philip McGuigan, as well as Alliance MLA John Blair and the Green Party’s Clare Bailey.
Three DUP MLAs, namely Willian Irwin, Harry Harvey and Thomas Buchanan, along with Ulster Unionist MLA Rosemary Barton, voted against the clause.
They stated that the net zero target for NI goes against expert advice from the UK government’s Climate Change Committee, and is strongly opposed by the local agri food industry.
Patsy McGlone from the SDLP was not present for the vote, although he joined the meeting soon afterwards.
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