Climate Action Plan 2021 - Securing our future.

The Climate Action Plan 2021 - Securing our future sets a roadmap for taking decisive action to halve emissions by 2030 and reach net zero no later than 2050. The Plan acknowledges that some sectors will be more impacted than others, and we will need to help people with the costs of the transition to ensure that it happens. Detailed analysis has informed the identification in this Plan of abatement technologies that will need to be implemented across sectors key sectors. Considerable investment will be required to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. Among the most important measures in the Plan is to increase the proportion of renewable electricity. The government will introduce a small-scale generator scheme for farmers, business, and communities to generate their own electricity and feed into the grid; as well as developing improved storage, we will also begin to deploy renewable gas such as biomethane and green hydrogen. Farm practices that enable farmers to produce world-class food with a lower carbon footprint are key. The plan commits to using less chemical nitrogen and more targeted use of fertilizer, while maintaining the same level of grass growth through multi-species swards. Other measures include improving the genetics of our herds to reduce emissions and improve productivity. We will also incentivize increased organic farming and diversification into forestry, biomethane and energy production. Ireland’s land use to reduce emissions and move to being an overall store of carbon, will involve further bog rehabilitation, increased afforestation, improved management of grasslands on mineral soils, increasing the use of cover crops in tillage, and the rewetting of organic soils. A new forestry programme will be launched. A Whole-of-Government Circular Economy Strategy, the enactment of the Circular Economy Bill 2021, and the development of a Bioeconomy Action Plan is undergo. Food waste will be halved, plastic packaging will be fully reusable or recyclable and the capacity to recycle packaging waste will be increased. Then Plan also include governance aspects, international cooperation as well as adaptation measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.