Climate change and meeting Ireland’s emissions target reduction of 51% by 2030 and reaching net zero by 2050 are hot topics of conversation.

The EPA held a two-day webinar on the subject where chair of the Climate Change Advisory Council (CCAC) Marie Donnelly spoke about the role of agriculture and other areas that needed to bring their emissions down.

She said that agriculture was probably the only sector that had the ability and access to offsetting emissions through the use of carbon sinks that would involve bog rewetting.

Although she did not reveal any specific targets the agriculture sector would need to achieve under the bill, she did highlight issues around electricity.

“We’re looking at least 70% zero carbon electricity by 2030. That means we need to build more onshore wind farms,” she said.

She added that this would mean streamlining planning processes and engaging with local communities where wind farms were built to ensure that local people felt like they were “part of the process”.