09 / INSIGHT
Dr Brian Murphy discusses how gardeners, landscapers and growers all have a part to play in locking up carbon
THE CLIMATE CHANGE SOLUTION UNDERFOOT CARBON CAPTURE AND SEQUESTRATION TECHNOLOGIES WILL BE REQUIRED ALONG WITH EMISSION REDUCTIONS IF IRELAND IS TO MEET DEMANDING CLIMATE TARGETS.
I
rish soil might be the unsung hero in the battle to mitigate the country’s carbon emissions. Healthy soil ecosystems sequester and store vast amounts of carbon. As Ireland and other nations struggle to meet reduction targets for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the topic of soil carbon sequestration is raised more and more. However, there are many unknowns around the potential of soils as a quantifiable mitigation tool in the battle to decarbonise. Which is why there is no clear policy or plan from Irish government or Europe on how to account for soil carbon as an offset of our national emission figures.
WHY IS SOIL CARBON SEQUESTRATION RELEVANT? Since Covid-19 restrictions have started to relax the national news (at time of writing) is now dominated by government formation talks. Climate and specifically greenhouse gas emission reductions are a key negotiation point. By now, most people are aware of the emission reduction goal of 7%; Ireland’s emissions reduction commitments are not new. This goal comes from Ireland’s commitment to the Paris agreement ratified in 2016. Every country in the world signed the Paris agreement which sets out a framework to hold average global temperature increases of less than 2°C
Soil carbon sequestration is the removal of carbon from the atmosphere into the soil in a form that will not be lost easily.” Summer 2020 / www.horticultureconnected.ie / HORTICULTURECONNECTED
35
