2733. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the current status of carbon credit arrangements for forestry owners; whether any formal mechanism, scheme or regulatory framework exists that would allow private forestry owners to generate, verify, trade or otherwise benefit from carbon credits arising from carbon sequestration on their lands; the steps his Department has taken to develop such a framework; the expected timeline for its introduction; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [62116/26]

Forest owners can pursue voluntary initiatives in the trading of carbon and other corporate social responsibility mechanisms. In general, carbon farming schemes or initiatives will require a forest to meet specific criteria to be certified.

At EU level, the European Commission has adopted the Carbon Removals and Carbon Farming (CRCF) Regulation, which will create the first EU-wide voluntary framework for the certification of carbon removals. In July 2026, the European Commission adopted its Delegated Regulation for establishing the certification methodologies for three types of carbon farming activities including afforestation and agroforestry. These methodologies were developed following a public consultation and discussions with the Expert Group on Carbon Removals. My Department have provided input into this process via this Expert Group. The Delegated Regulation is now being examined by the EU Council and the EU Parliament. A draft forest management methodology under the CRCF is also expected to be developed in the next year.

At national level, my Department is leading the development of a national Carbon Farming Framework to support putting farmers and forest owners at the centre of meeting our National and EU climate objectives. The overall objective is to develop and support policy, and facilitate the adoption and scaling of management practices through Carbon Farming within agriculture’s primary production systems that will contribute towards Ireland achieving its climate, biodiversity and water quality targets.

My Department established a Carbon Farming Working Group in 2023 to oversee the development of the Carbon Farming Framework and work continues in this area with a view to delivering a National Framework for Carbon Farming.