Amendments to the NI Executive’s climate change bill are to be considered by MLAs at Stormont next week. At present, the bill has the headline target to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 82% by 2050.

Green Party MLA Clare Bailey has put forward an amendment which would require a 100% reduction in emissions by 2045. That would bring the Executive’s bill in line with her own private members bill.

Bailey’s climate change bill is now further behind in the legislative process, and it may not make it through Stormont before the next election.

The Alliance Party put forward an amendment to the Executive bill on Tuesday evening which would require a 100% reduction in emissions by 2050.

This caused alarm in farming circles, as farmer representatives had thought Alliance was now supportive of the 82% target.

The UFU is again urging all its members to write to their local MLAs

Speaking at a meeting in Westminster on Wednesday morning, Alliance MP Stephen Farry said his party was willing to discuss climate targets with the Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU).

“We need that climate change discussion with you and your party sooner rather than later after last night’s development,” responded UFU president Victor Chestnutt.

The UFU is again urging all its members to write to their local MLAs urging them to support the 82% emissions reductions target.

A target for 100% emissions reduction (net zero) in NI is contrary to all expert advice from the UK government’s Climate Change Committee and consultancy firm KPMG found that cattle and sheep numbers in NI will need to reduce by 86% to achieve it.

A quarter of our entire private sector is predicated on agri food, that’s 113,000 jobs

At the meeting in Westminster, Michael Bell from the NI Food and Drink Association told MPs the damage that a net zero target would cause the NI economy is “of a scale never seen before”.

“A quarter of our entire private sector is predicated on agri food, that’s 113,000 jobs, and the core of that is the farming sector,” he said.

MLAs vote

Further amendments to the Executive’s bill are likely to be tabled by other MLAs in the coming days and it remains to be seen which amendments will be selected for debate next week.

It is also unclear how some political parties and individual MLAs will vote on the various targets.

Representatives from Sinn Féin have so far been vocal in their desire to go beyond the 82% target.

It is not known how MLAs from the SDLP will vote on the amendments. The DUP and Ulster Unionists previously voiced their support for the 82% target.