NUIG and Teagasc join forces on carbon emissions

NUI Galway and Teagasc have joined forces in an alliance aimed at reducing the carbon footprint of Irish agriculture over the coming years.

The ‘Strategic Research and Training Alliance on Carbon-Neutral Agriculture’ was launched last week by Minister of State, Sean Kyne, who said that the partnership would help in the country make the transition to a low carbon, climate resilient economy.

The NUIG/Teagasc alliance will facilitate new research projects and new post-graduate courses aimed at examining how Ireland can cut greenhouse gas emissions during food production.

Minister of State for Gaeltacht Affairs and Natural Resources, Sean Kyne, said that climate change presented many challenges for Ireland and not least in how the country managed its overall emissions profile.

He said that those challenges were clearly understood by Government as understood by Government and reflected in the National Policy Position on Climate Action and how the Climate Action and the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015.

Minister Kyne said that climate action in Ireland was being directed from two different perspectives – mitigation and adaptation.

“The plan will focus on four key sectors – Transport, Electricity Generation, Built Environment, and Agriculture and Forestry which is where this new strategic alliance between NUIG and Teagasc will come in.

“There is a very great need, on the one hand, to reduce emissions and on the other, to consider the global challenge of sustainable food production for a projected population of over nine billion by 2050.

“We need to find the optimal balance between reducing emissions within the agriculture and land use sector while taking into account the vital need to maximise sustainable food production.

“Research and work that will take place under this partnership between NUIG and Teagasc will be central to helping us achieve this balance and also our national, European and international aims and obligations at combatting Climate Change.”