Ireland must alter how it records biogenic methane emissions from livestock, in light of the Government’s commitment to advocate for change in this area, John Hourigan of the Carbon Removals Action Group (CRAG) has said.

He has called on the Government to use both the current GWP100 accounting system in parallel to GWP*.

A Teagasc study in 2023 claimed that GWP100 overstated the impact of methane emissions from Irish livestock and that GWP* was a more accurate measure.

However, Ireland is tied to the GWP100 methodology under international agreements until 2030.

“We are still stuck with a flawed accounting system. The answer to what we do now has been provided many times by Professor Myles Allen of Oxford University; change from GWP100 to GWP*. As this change cannot happen until 2030, for the moment we should count under both systems,” Hourigan maintained.

“We will have two diverging sets of figures, and it will become quite clear that GWP*, which reflects the actual warming potential, is the one to use,” he said.

“Under this system, with a static herd, and just an 8% fall in methane emissions by 2040, our livestock herd will have achieved climate neutrality. That is zero ‘additional’ warming,” Hourigan claimed.

“This will wipe out 65% of Irish agriculture’s carbon footprint, and 20% of our national carbon footprint,” he pointed out.

Dr Laurence Shalloo, Teagasc’s head of animal and grassland research and innovation, recently told the Irish Farmers Journal that the move to reflect the unique characteristics of biogenic methane could have a significant impact on Ireland’s requirements to reduce biogenic methane to achieve climate neutrality.