‘Common sense prevails’ as Climate Change Bill passes final stage at Stormont

The comment comes after the Executive’s Climate Change Bill (No2), with a separate methane target, passed its final stage at Stormont this week.

UFU president, Victor Chestnutt, said: “It’s been a long and tortuous road to get to this point on this issue.

“We’re very pleased that MLAs voted in support of the Executive’s Climate Change Bill today at the Northern Ireland (NI) Assembly, allowing it to soon become law.

“Big changes will be required of agriculture going forward to meet the targets within the bill, but all of which are supported by science and expert advice bringing us back in line with the Climate Change Committee’s balanced pathway for agriculture.

“Our farmers are utterly relieved that we now have legislation in place that will allow them to reduce emissions without wiping out our unique farm family structure, damaging the very fabric of our rural communities across NI.

“The targets are still ambitious, and we don’t underestimate how challenging these will be for our sector and wider society.”

Mr Chestnutt said the union had exhausted every avenue to protect Northern Ireland’s farming industry, lobbying to make sure legislation was put in place that delivers for climate change and everyone in society.

He added: “However, we couldn’t have done it without the incredible support of our members who hosted farm visits with politicians, contacted their local MLAs and attended events including our climate change rally, to make their voice heard on the matter.

“Also, the many agri-food and rural businesses who we engaged and worked with over the last few months, their support on this issue made a massive impact.

“Thank you to everyone who supported us in this mammoth effort to ensure our farms have a future.”

The UFU is delighted that Clare Bailey’s Private Member’s Bill, which included a net zero target of 2045, will not be progressed any further.

“Something needs to be considered in a new assembly mandate, however, to prevent two bills on the same subject progressing through Stormont at the same time again, as it is senseless and takes up MLAs and stakeholders valuable time unnecessarily when they could be working on other matters,” Mr Chestnutt stated.

“The future of farm families, young farmers and rural communities were put at risk due to the Private Member’s Climate Change Bill and the actions of some MLAs.

“It was hugely concerning that some of our politicians did not grasp that reducing food production here would only exacerbate global warming by pushing production to countries where emissions are higher and standards are lower.

“It stresses the need to ensure that only appropriate policies with all the relevant impact assessments in place that are truly workable for everyone in NI, can be considered by the NI Assembly.

“Not populist policies that will be detrimental.

“With global supplies being in a highly vulnerable state due to Russia’s invasion in Ukraine, now more than ever food security must be seriously considered in any policy development.

“We’re fortunate in NI to be well placed to produce food from farms with high animal welfare and environmental standards, and we need to be utilising and developing this as best we can with the global population significantly increasing year on year.

“It’s extremely encouraging that in the end our MLAs recognised the importance of our farming industry and did what was right by choosing to support a balanced policy.

“Our farmers will now continue to drive emissions reductions and increase carbon sequestration while producing sustainable food to world leading standards for consumers at home and abroad, within the framework of the Executive’s Climate Change Bill,” ended Mr Chestnutt.