Farm emissions down 2.6% since 2023

Agricultural greenhouse gas emissions are down 2.6% in the first three months of 2024 compared with the same period in 2023.

The latest figures from the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) quarterly greenhouse gas emissions for Ireland showed that the country’s emissions decreased by 2.2% in the first quarter of 2024 compared with the same period last year.

The EPA has cited reduced lime application to soils and lower milk output as reasons for the third consecutive quarterly drop of emissions in the farm sector.

Responding to the report, EPA’s climate programme manager said the figures highlight the impact of market prices and weather conditions.

“These findings signal the continued impact of climate action and decarbonisation measures across Ireland’s economy and society,” she said.

“Poor weather conditions also impacted lime application to soils, which led to lower emissions from the agriculture sector.”

Largest producer

The EPA report found that the farming sector continues to be the largest producer of greenhouse gas emissions, producing 4,892 kt CO2 eq (kilotonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent) in the first three month of this year, compared with the transport sector in second at 2,968 kt CO2 eq.

There were decreases in emissions across five of the seven sub-sectors in agriculture.

There were increases in emissions attributed to agricultural soils (42.4 kt CO2 eq) and urea application (6.1 kt CO2 eq) due to increased sales of fertilisers and urea-based products during the quarter.

However, due to the adverse weather and ground conditions, the EPA said some stockpiling may have occurred during this quarter.

Sectoral increases

The largest reduction in greenhouse emissions was in electricity, which saw a 16.7% (312 kt CO2 eq) drop. The EPA said this was due to reductions in fossil fuel use and increased importation of electricity.

Although Irish figures were down, some sectors had increases in their emissions. The transport sector jumped by 2.7% (78.2 kt CO2eq) driven by increased sales of petrol (9.6%) and diesel (1.3%).

Other sectoral increases included commercial (4.1%) and residential buildings (6.1%), which the EPA said is a clear link between increased energy demand, largely delivered by fossil fuels, and greenhouse gas emissions.

Director of the EPA’s office of evidence and assessment Dr Eimear Cotter said the figures showed Ireland made progress in reducing emissions when concerted action is taken.

“Ireland joins a small number of countries worldwide to carry out this type of assessment, which will provide valuable early and frequent indicator data for the monitoring and governance of Ireland’s climate action.

“The reduction of 2.2% in Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions in the first quarter of 2024, when compared with the same period last year, is welcome following the largest annual reduction in emissions outside of recession reported in 2023."