To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs to outline the progress his Department in establishing a consistent approach to monitoring the greenhouse gas emissions from farms across Northern Ireland.

Greenhouse gas emissions from sources within farms are reported in the NI greenhouse gas inventory which forms part of the UK greenhouse gas inventory submission to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The UK greenhouse gas inventory is compiled and maintained by a consortium led by Ricardo Energy & Environment under contract to the UK Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

The inventory is conducted in accordance with international protocols and methodological guidance as defined by the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). All countries that report to the UNFCCC are required to follow these agreed guidelines and good practice to ensure that the greenhouse gas emissions for each country are complete and comparable.

The UK inventory uses the best available data from UK and international research for each emission source. The agriculture sector includes emissions from livestock and agricultural soils, as well as emissions from stationary combustion sources, off-road machinery (e.g. tractors). There are also very small emissions of CO2 from the breakdown of pesticides. Estimates of emissions sources and sinks, for croplands and grasslands, are included in the Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry sector.

CAFRE deliver a number of knowledge and technology transfer programmes to the agricultural industry in relation to greenhouse gas emissions across NI. The programmes focus on the latest technologies to improve environmental and economic sustainability and provide farmers with the opportunity to calculate their farm carbon footprint, identify opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase farm carbon sequestration.

CAFRE has also initiated the process of quantifying farm level emissions on a select number of farms within Northern Ireland using a consistent methodology. The carbon calculator used within CAFRE reflects Northern Ireland’s mixed farms systems and uses both IPCC Tier 1 and Tier 2 data for estimating GHG emissions by source.