Agriculture will have to reduce its carbon footprint by between 37% and 48% by 2050, the Climate Change Advisory Council has said. The 2040 target range set out in the 2024 carbon budget proposal report is between 34% and 42% lower than the 2018 base year.
“The significance of the agriculture sector in Ireland, in particular livestock agriculture, will be a consideration in determining Ireland’s individual 2040 target,” the report says. The more ambitious targets would require a reduction in livestock numbers, whereas the lower targets envisage a stable national herd.
Management of the water table to protect carbon in peat soils is assumed to occur on 90% of the “remaining drained organic soil area under grass” by 2050, with “rehabilitation of 90% of remaining drained “industrial and domestic exploited wetlands”.
A forestry planting target of 17,500ha a year, of which 30% (5,250 ha) would be deciduous, is proposed. No target for land use, land use change and forestry sector is presented, as the science continues to evolve.
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