NI Climate Change Bill at "critical" stage
Last updated 1st Feb 2022
One of two Climate Change Bills for Northern Ireland will come to the Stormont Assembly Floor today, Tuesday.
The Executive’s Climate Change (Number 2) Bill has been tabled by the Agriculture Minister.
A separate, rival bill, called Climate Change (Number 1 Bill) brought forward by the Green Party NI’s leader Claire Bailey, is also on a separate course through legislative hurdles in a race to become law.
The Agri Minister’s bill seeks to reduce greenhouse gas production by a minimum of 82 per cent by 2050. This is a less ambitious plan than the other bill, which hopes to enforce legally binding rules to get carbon emissions down to zero by 2045.
MLAs will vote on each clause, schedule and proposed amendment to the Bill in the Assembly at Stormont.
The farming community has largely backed Edwin Poots’ bill, but ahead of the consideration stage, it has been feared that too many amendments could leave it looking like Ms Bailey’s bill, which the sector does not endorse.
The NI Assembly's mandate ends in March ahead of the next elections, meaning the law would need to get over the line before then.
Speaking ahead of the consideration stage, President of the Ulster Farmers Union, Victor Chestnutt, said farmers want a sustainable and greener future too, but it must not decimate rural communities.
“There are few people who experience climate change so brutally as farmers. It can be the making or the ruination of critical seasons in the farming calendar, impacting a farm family’s income,” he said.
“We farmers want and need to address the global issue as soon as we can. We’re a key part of the climate change solution and need the right legislation to help us do this on farm.”
The UFU head continued: “We’re proud to feed the nation and want to continue supplying our consumers with high-quality, local food produced with low emissions. NI is well placed to produce food from farms with high animal health welfare and environmental standards. Beef production in Western Europe is currently 2.5 times more efficient in managing carbon emissions than the global average, and there is still room for further improvement here in NI.
“We’ll continue to improve our sustainability with the support of the right legislation, new technologies, funding, and commitments to research. The land is our livelihood, it’s not going to become an open play park nor be the scapegoat for society. We need an active, thriving countryside which sustains livelihoods and rural living. Not just for our farmers but for the thousands of people whose lives are built upon the solid structure that rural communities provide.”