Climate Act: DAERA chair Tom Elliott warns farmers cannot be 'short changed' by department

Stormont’s climate act will require huge changes to how farms are run in Northern Ireland if there is any hope of meeting the “difficult” target of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

But no extra money is being made available for farmers beyond what they currently receive to fund decarbonising their businesses through existing schemes. Stormont has just six years to reduce emissions in Northern Ireland by 48% under targets it set despite warnings they were too ambitious.

Mr Elliott – chair of Stormont’s agriculture committee – has warned DAERA not to short change farmers when it comes to the development of the Just Transition Fund for the sector.

Mr Elliott said: “DAERA will be considering the section in the Climate Change Act that requires the Department to establish a Just Transition Fund for Agriculture in order to provide advice and financial assistance to the agricultural sector to help deliver its contribution under policies and proposals within Climate Action Plans.

“However this funding should not be siphoned from the ring fenced agriculture support package from the UK government, but should be a proper focused support mechanism to deal specifically with the significant financial burdens that will beset the farming industry.

“The agricultural sector will likely suffer significantly from the Climate Change Act, it is important that this industry, that is world renowned for the excellent quality of the products that it produces will not be diminished due to this legislation.”

DAERA staff presented evidence on the issue to MLAs at the agriculture committee last week. Official Claire Cockerill said that ‘Just Transition’ arrangements for agriculture would come out of “the annual ringfenced budget for agriculture” – but was unclear if that would come out of money that is already provided for support.

In response to a News Letter request for clarity on the matter, a DAERA spokesperson said: “The new Farm Support and Development Programme contains significant greenhouse gas mitigation measures which are fully integrated into the policy agenda. These same measures will be reflected in the forthcoming Climate Action Plan (CAP).

"Funding for the Farm Support and Development Programme comes largely from the ring-fenced replacement of EU funding for agriculture, environment and rural support.

"The issue of the Just Transition Fund for Agriculture will be addressed in the forthcoming consultation on the CAP. Funding for the future Just Transition Fund for Agriculture will need to be considered in the context of budgetary pressures and priorities across the NI Executive.”

Claire Cockerill also said that there is currently no figure on how much the act will cost individuals and households but they are working on that at the moment.

The act sets carbon budgets – the maximum total amount of emissions permitted over 5 year periods. The first is 2023-27 – and officials said three statutory targets have already been missed. The first carbon budget should have been set last year but wasn’t because there were no ministers. Officials have plans ready for the new ministers, but it is unclear if there is enough money to deliver them.

Officials said it would be “difficult” to reach the 100% net zero target by 2050, but DAERA’s Claire Cockerill said the act is “a top priority for our minister”.

She added: “Meeting the statutory obligations and making sure that we in Northern Ireland are taking action to mitigate the effects of climate change and adapt to a changing climate. Those are the targets that are in the climate change act and ultimately that’s what we want to be working towards – challenging as they are”.

Sinn Fein asked what collaboration was happening with the Republic – as they did in the Economy committee the previous week. Despite that, the party has failed to answer questions from the News Letter about whether it would support a fuel levy here – similar to the one run in the Republic which funds climate improvements.

Officials said they have had regular visits to the Republic, who are much further ahead in their climate strategy.