Payments to shift to those farming in environmentally-sound ways – Taoiseach

Ireland will work with other countries to shift payments to farmers who farm in more sustainable and environmentally-sound ways, An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, has said.

Speaking at the United Nations Climate Action Summit in New York on Monday night Varadkat siad he wants Ireland to be known as a green country because of how it responds to the climate and environmental challenges facing the planet.

“We will plant 440m trees and will work with other countries to reform the EU Common Agriculture Policy to shift payments towards farmers who farm in more sustainable and environmentally-sound ways,” he said.

He said with the Government’s Climate Action Plan “we know what we are going to do”.

Actions

Varadkat continued: “Next year, we will underpin it through new Climate Action legislation including carbon budgeting.

“We have already banned fracking. We have a climate action fund paid for by a levy on oil. Our sovereign wealth fund has divested from fossil fuels.

“We will outlaw single-use plastics next and our public sector is already doing so.

“We have a carbon tax and have a cross-party agreement to increase it to €80 per tonne by 2030.

“From next year, all new revenue raised from carbon tax will be ring-fenced to fund new climate action and just transition. Just transition to protect those most exposed to higher fuel and energy costs and for whom new jobs must be found."

Renewables

An Taoiseach said that coal will be taken off the electricity grid by 2025 and that Ireland’s renewable electricity will rise from 30% today to 70% in 10 years.

“By 2030 we will have prohibited the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles. By then we will have substantially electrified our fleet. All new public buses bought from now are hybrids,” he said.

“I believe we must replace a climate of fear and anxiety with a new climate of action and opportunity.

“Responding to the challenge of the century with creativity, with imagination and with courage,” he concluded.

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