I very much welcome the Minister's acceptance last week of two significant amendments to the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2021. I strongly support that. The reason is that the two amendments will ensure, for the first time, that the farming community will get due recognition when it comes to capturing and storing carbon on the land, be it in hedgerows, soil or the trees. This is potentially very positive from a farming perspective with regard to setting carbon targets, carbon budgeting and sectoral emissions thresholds later in the year. Furthermore, it is important to acknowledge the positive contribution the agricultural community can make to climate action because that will further encourage good behaviour in that regard.

While I accept that the principle is sound and the concept is good, I appreciate that there are still many questions. I have many questions, as do the agricultural community and farming families. I accept that the Minister may not have all the information to hand, but five questions jump out. How will the carbon sequestration be calculated and quantified? If the Minister could shed some light on that, it would be much appreciated. Second, which State agency will take the lead in coming up with such a formula that can be applied to various farms and regions? Third, how long will it take before a formula that can be applied can be agreed between various parties? Fourth, does any other country do something similar? Rather than us reinventing the wheel, could we take a template from another country and apply it or customise it here? Finally, how will individual farms and the farming community in general draw down these credits? Will there be financial incentives to assist them and will there be financial recognition for what they are doing from a climate point of view? I would be grateful if the Minister could respond to that. Again, I accept that he may not have all the information to hand relating to how it is going to be applied and implemented, but any light he could shed on the topic would be greatly appreciated.

I thank the Deputy. It is significant. We are about to change how we approach climate in land use in a way that I believe will see farmers benefitting from our emissions reduction targets. The critical thing in the policy approach we are taking is that we want income to go up as emissions go down. Bringing down emissions involves not only reducing the source of the emissions, be it biogenic methane, nitrous oxide or carbon dioxide coming from our activities, but also looking at sinks such as being able to store carbon in the soil and in woodlands and being able to stop carbon being emitted by re-wetting bogs, which allows the dry exposed bog to retain carbon rather than emitting it into the atmosphere. It is recognising that what are called sinks for storing carbon using nature-based solutions is where payments will be able to come.

Regarding how it will be quantified, we still have work to do. A key commitment in the programme for Government is a full land use review. A lot of science and mapping is happening in this regard, but we need further scientific information to be accurate and scientific in terms of what is happening. Many changes are taking place in forestry, wetlands, grass and other systems and, therefore, we have to do a proper land use review to have a full assessment.

As regards which agencies, to answer each of the Deputy's five questions in turn, Teagasc and the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, have critical roles, as well as other State agencies such as Coillte. However, I single out Teagasc and the EPA as having a critical role as scientific organisations spreading best practice and helping us to determine the policy levers that we will use to deliver it.

As to how long it will take, it will probably take towards the middle to latter part of this decade. That is in tune with changes that are also going to occur at European level. There will be a further amendment to the Bill in the Seanad tomorrow to back up the two amendments that were agreed on Committee Stage and clarifying that it is the European accounting system. That accounting system will evolve. In 2026, the European accounting system will include wetlands and emissions from wetlands within the European system. We even expect further information next week when the Fit for 55, the European climate strategy for the next decade, comes out and that there will be further evolution. However, it will take time for us to set up the scientific and trading-based solutions as well as other policy levers to avail of those payments. Some will come sooner. Even on wetlands, the agreement in the CAP reform in recent weeks for farmers to be paid through CAP payments for storing carbon in wetlands is already here. There is evolving European and domestic attention on this as a key part of the solution.

I thank the Minister for his genuinely useful and helpful response, particularly regarding how farmers may be able to monetise this situation, which is definitely good news. The Minister mentioned that an amendment will be tabled in the Upper House tomorrow. Does the Minister envisage any more amendments being accepted and can he indicate when the amended Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill is due to be brought back before the Dáil for consideration and final sign-off?

I have to await the Report Stage tomorrow in the Seanad, but I do not expect other amendments on this complex issue. Even explaining the science of sinks, sources and different accounting mechanisms is an evolving and complex process in its own right. However, the amendments we have introduced and the further amendment tomorrow help. As I said during the Dáil debate, the Bill recognises that we are going to be using sources and sinks and that we will pay farmers.

To answer briefly the two other questions the Deputy asked, which I did not get a chance to answer, New Zealand provides a model. For example, its dairy farmers are switching away from the heavy fertiliser and pumped-up rye grass model towards mixed sward. They are doing what many smart farmers are starting to do here, which is good nutrient and soil management, so it is happening. On individual farms, we will look at similar systems that country has for here, where there will be payments from other sectors for the nature-based services and solutions, including carbon sinks, that farmers and foresters provide. That is coming. It will take some time to get the systems in place, but it is part of the future for Irish agriculture.