Climate action plan

Sir, – The Cabinet is considering an updated climate action plan (News, December 21st). Let’s hope that it’s even better than the old plan.

Ireland is legally obliged to reduce its carbon emissions by 51 per cent by 2030. In your lead story on July 30th, Prof Peter Thorne pointed out that the 25 per cent target cut for agriculture, which accounts for 37 per cent of our emissions, implies an impossible target for all other sectors. He went on to say that “the cold, hard maths is going to have to come into this”. In fact, a piece of simple arithmetic will suffice.

If agriculture meets its “voluntary” target, our total emissions will fall by 9.25 per cent (25 per cent of 37 per cent). If our national target of a 51 per cent reduction is to be achieved, the non-agricultural sectors, which account for 63 per cent of our emissions, will have to contribute 41.75 per cent to the overall target of 51 per cent.

And 41.75 per cent is 66.3 per cent of 63 per cent. So all sectors other than agriculture will have to achieve an average reduction in emissions of 66.3 per cent if Ireland, hamstrung by the then-targeted reduction of only 25 per cent for agriculture, is to satisfy its obligation to reduce emissions by 51 per cent.