EPA chief Laura Burke says agriculture can’t keep ‘talking the environmental talk’while ramping up production, and warns that some targets don’t go far enough
‘We’ve been riding two horses for the last 10 years,” says Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) director general Laura Burke when asked to sum up the farm sector’s performance on climate action during her tenure at the helm.
Those two horses are “talking the environmental talk” while simultaneously “ramping up production”.
But with a slight rise in agri-based emissions provisionally recorded for 2020 (after a 4pc drop in 2019), plus a game-changing carbon budget for the sector just weeks away, Ms Burke warns: “The time for debate and discussion is over.”
“There definitely has been a growth in awareness of the importance of environmental issues, particular around the climate agenda,” she says.
“But on the flip side, we’ve also seen agricultural practices identified by EPA reports as one of the main pressures responsible for the decline in water quality nationally.
“The sector is responsible for a third of greenhouse gas emissions and 99pc of ammonia emissions.
“So where there’s been talk on climate issues for the last 10 years, at the same time, we’ve seen a major ramp-up in food production and increased pressures on the environment.
“The two don’t marry well — all trends are going in the wrong direction.”
On the new 2030 Agri Food Strategy, which targets a minimum 10pc reduction in methane emissions from ruminants by the end of the decade, the Wexford-based chemical engineer, who joined the agency in 2004, says some targets don’t go far enough.
“We welcome that the environmental challenges are recognised in the strategy, but what we would say is that, in some areas for example on ammonia, the level of ambition is just to meet legal compliance.
“I’m not in any way underestimating the challenges to become legally compliant, but that needs to be acknowledged within the strategy,” says Ms Burke, who was a member of the strategy’s stakeholder committee.
“In the area of methane, from our analysis, a targeted 10pc reduction does not even meet the lower level of greenhouse reduction submitted to the Climate Action Plan 2019, and that is a concern.
“In this strategy we must make sure environmental issues are tackled because previously in FoodWise 2025 they were highlighted, but economic growth happened at the expense of the environment.”
Implementation and monitoring on an ongoing basis will be key to the strategy’s success, according to Ms Burke, who says action must be taken where delivery is negated — with the Irish dairy sector under significant scrutiny.
‘We rely on this clean, green image so we have to be able to demonstrate, as a country, our environmental credentials’
“If all policies and programmes across all sectors of the Irish economy were implemented and delivered as anticipated, we would be talking about a 24pc reduction in emissions in Ireland by 2030, which is less than half of the 51pc target, so there is a long way to go.
“Pending evidence and implementation of effective solutions to ongoing unsustainable air and water emissions, any plans for further intensification, or further expansion, of the dairy herd would be difficult to sustain.
“It is our position that we cannot have this ongoing growth.
“We rely on this clean, green image so we have to be able to demonstrate, as a country, our environmental credentials.
“It’s really important not only from an environmental perspective, but from an economic perspective that those solutions are identified.
“Any further intensification of the dairy herd is difficult to justify when you are looking at our environmental issues of methane and water quality.”
Ms Burke stresses that new measures, including those identified by Teagasc’s MACC curves, must also go beyond the buzzword of “efficiencies”.
“Over the last 10 years there has been a strong focus on efficiencies, but efficiencies will not cut it. The environment does not understand ‘efficiency’ — it understands total emissions, total impact.
“That is going to be absolutely key — going beyond improving efficiencies and focusing on reducing total emissions and bridging the link between animal numbers, fertiliser use, deteriorating water quality.
“That is where the rubber hits the road.”
‘Any further intensification of the dairy herd is difficult to justify when you are looking at our environmental issues of methane and water quality’
Pointing to some positives, Ms Burke, who previously headed up the EPA’s licensing directorate office, acknowledges that some promising indicators have emerged on ammonia.
“In 2019 we saw that 16pc of cattle slurry was applied using Low Emission Slurry Spreading techniques, which was great, and we saw a four-fold increase in the use of inhibited urea fertiliser product.
“That resulted in a significant 7pc reduction in ammonia levels, so that is a really positive signal. One year does not make a trend, but those actions are a win-win from a climate and ammonia perspective.
“We can always point to exemplary practice at individual farm level, but it’s really important to recognise that it’s the sum of the parts.
“And from what we are seeing it is going in the wrong direction at the moment.”
While recognising that many of the sector’s environmental shortcomings were policy-made, Ms Burke says the country’s looming CAP Strategic Plan and Nitrates Actions Programme must drive systemic change.
“Nitrogen levels in the south and south-east are too high, and they are increasing primarily because of agricultural activities — we need to break that link; it can be done, it has to be done.
“This isn’t an option. Agriculture is impacting over 60pc of all water quality at risk of not achieving objectives; those actions on the ground need to be reversed.
“There is need for improved compliance with the current regulation, and we would also be recommending to further strengthen and resource enforcement mechanisms.”
‘Over the last 10 years there has been a strong focus on efficiencies, but efficiencies will not cut it. The environment does not understand ‘efficiency’ — it understands total emissions, total impact’
Asked about the possibility of strict Integrated Pollution Control (IPC) licences being introduced on intensive dairy farms in Ireland in the future, Ms Burke replies:
“I am aware that it is part of the Industrial Emissions Directive review — they are looking at reduced licensing thresholds for pigs and poultry and possibly the inclusion of dairy farms”.
“But that is a decision either at EU level under the Industrial Emissions Directive or at a national level. I come back to the point that we need solutions. There are different tools for solutions, but that is an option.
“Are we recommending pushing it? No more than other actions, but it is recognised as on the table at EU level.”
Under the EPA’s licencing regime, an estimated 800 IPC licences are in operation nationwide.
“We have a number in the agri-food sector already,” says Ms Burke. “We have 102 food and drink sector licences and just under 300 intensive agriculture sites — that’s pigs and poultry.
“It is a particular process that you have to follow; there is an assessment first of all to make sure that the activities will not have an impact on the environment, then we issue a licence with numerous conditions, then there is enforcement of the licence. So that is a regime.”
Ms Burke, who is also chair of the European Environment Agency (EEA), says it could be months or years before a final decision is made on the mooted IPC dairy move.
“If it’s decided at EU level that this is appropriate to put into an Industrial Emissions Directive, then we will license it and we’ll assess each licence on a case-by-case basis.
“But we are not, in the context of food strategies or anything like that, pushing submissions on that.
“It again comes back to that we are identifying the issues in agriculture, what’s working, what’s not working, and saying now for the sector, what are the potential solutions here?”
‘It’s difficult to put in quotas and tell people, you can’t travel’
Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions dropped by just 4.5pc in 2020 despite the prolonged lockdown due to Covid-19, it has emerged.
Outlining provisional findings, EPA chief Laura Burke says transport emissions fell by almost 17pc, while agricultural emissions “increased slightly” over the 12-month period.
“We’re seeing only around a 4.5pc reduction in emissions in 2020, primarily because residential sector emissions actually increased,” she says.
“Transport emissions reduced in particular — they fell almost 17pc, due to people being closer to home — so that was one of the big changes.
“But although the country was in lockdown for a significant period, emissions didn’t reduce dramatically, which shows the challenge ahead.”
As concern mounts that the EU will experience an “emissions rebound effect” following the wide-scale easing of restrictions, Ms Burke is asked about her views on the potential of foreign travel quotas as a carbon mitigation measure.
“It’s difficult to put in quotas and tell people that you can’t travel, as we’ve already seen post-Covid there is a pent-up demand,” she says.
“The aviation sector needs to accelerate what they’re doing with regards to their carbon emissions. I certainly would see opportunities into the future for less business travel and really considering when you need to travel.”
‘The aviation sector needs to accelerate what they’re doing with regards to their carbon emissions. I certainly would see opportunities into the future for less business travel and really considering when you need to travel’
With the Climate Change Advisory Council due to submit its carbon budget proposals to Government in the coming weeks, the ex-officio council member is more entrenched in her views on reducing methane emissions.
“Ultimately, no matter what, we need strong, rapid and sustained reductions in methane — not to the same level as CO2, but we do need reductions,” she says.
“The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is clearly stating that, and in Ireland we really need to decide what’s appropriate for agriculture in that situation.
“With regards to a cut in the herd, we’re not saying that, for the very reason that we want the sector to be looking at the options here.
“We are at a tipping point. It’s an exciting time and a lot of things are coming together on agriculture and environmental issues.
“When we’re in 2030 and looking back on 2021, I would anticipate agriculture as being in a very different place, no more than transport and energy and other public sectors.
“We have to hit the targets and we need to get on with it.
“The time for debate and discussion is over now — it’s about moving into action.”
(Source – Irish Independent – Indo Farming – Claire Mc Cormack – 28/09/2021)