Naughten pushing for carbon tax

A carbon tax is being pushed for by Minister for Climate Action Denis Naughten, after the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) confirmed that Ireland will miss its carbon emission targets in 2020.

Agriculture emissions are set to increase by up to 4% by 2020 and up to 7% by 2030, according to the latest report from the EPA.

The EPA and the minister have pointed to agriculture and the expanding dairy herd as a particular contributing factor to agriculture emissions.

“The recent pace of economic growth, and the consequent increases in emissions from the agriculture and transport sectors in particular, have contributed significantly to these projections,” Minister Naughten said.

“Carbon tax in particular has a critical role in climate mitigation policy, and the National Mitigation Plan commits the Department of Finance to completing a review in 2018, with a view to setting a long-term trajectory for the evolution of this tax.”

Citizen’s Assembly

Last year, the Citizens’ Assembly voted overwhelmingly to impose a carbon tax on agriculture. The vote was non-binding but indicates a sentiment among the population to tax carbon emissions from agriculture.

The IFA rejected the Citizens’ Assembly proposal at the time and has insisted that a climate action programme, that helps farmers to reduce emissions, should be put in place and not a carbon tax.

Ireland’s target for 2020 had been to reduce emissions by 20% but the EPA predict that, at best, the reduction will be around 1%.

The Department for Climate Action told the Irish Farmers Journal that it does not expect EU fines for missing targets to be “significant”, but experts have warned that fines could run into hundreds of millions of euros.