THE GOVERNMENT’S MUCH-awaited climate action plan will be published today.

The document will set specific targets for individual sectors to achieve as well as outlining different actions being planned to help Ireland achieve its overall target to reduce emissions. 

Some examples of the targets the Government will be setting for various industries include a 22-30% reduction in carbon emissions for the agricultural sector, a 44-56% reduction for the housing industry, and the business sector will have to cut down by between 29-41%.

The Cabinet sub-committee on Environment and Climate Change signed off on the plan yesterday. It will be brought to Cabinet by Minister Eamon Ryan today. 

The three coalition leaders are expected to officially unveil the document later today.

Speaking at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow this week, Taoiseach Micheál Martin reaffirmed Ireland’s pledge to cut emissions by 51% below 2018 levels by 2030 and to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. 

He said yesterday that the sector-by-sector targets will be “very challenging” and that “no sector will escape”.  

Last week, a report commissioned by the Irish Farmers Journal and carried out by KPMG found that a 30% reduction in carbon emissions in agriculture could result in the loss of 56,400 farming related jobs. 

Martin described the prospect of such job losses as “scaremongering” and that a diversification of farming output was possible.  

Irish Farmers Association President Tim Cullinan said it was “extraordinary” that the government would dismiss the report without doing a similar assessment.