I propose to take Questions Nos. 296 to 298, inclusive, together.
Ireland is a party to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) under which the State is required to estimate and report its emissions and removals of greenhouse gas (GHG) from its sources or sinks on an annual basis.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) performs the role of inventory agency in Ireland and undertakes all aspects of inventory preparation and management as well as the reporting of Ireland’s annual National Inventory Report (NIR) submission in accordance with international requirements.
The NIR includes emissions and removals from Forestry and Harvested Wood Products which are detailed under the key emission category of Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF). LULUCF reporting in the NIR accounts for the six top-level categories (Forest Land, Cropland, Grassland, Wetland, Settlement, Other land). For Forest Land, the net CO2 emissions to, or removals from, the atmosphere are to be reported with respect to overall carbon gain or loss for up to five relevant carbon pools.
These pools are above-ground biomass, below-ground biomass, dead organic matter (litter and dead wood) and soils. The methodologies and emission factors used by Ireland to estimate GHG emissions are detailed in the EPA National Inventory Report.
As part of Ireland's NIR submission, the Energy source category covers all combustion sources of CO2, CH4 and N2O emissions and the fugitive emissions of these gases associated with the production, transport and distribution of fossil fuels. Under Road Transportation the emissions reported are computed from the amounts of petrol, diesel, LPG and biofuels provided for road transport in the national energy balance. Thus fossil fuel usage in the forest industry is accounted for in this category.
In addition to complying with the UNFCCC reporting guidelines, the annual NIR is intended to inform Irish Government departments and institutions involved in the national system, as well as other relevant stakeholders in Ireland, of the level of emissions and the methodology on how Irish GHG inventories are prepared. The in-depth analysis of key categories and the up-to-date data on emissions trends in the NIR provides essential information for the development of emissions projections and the development/implementation of the Climate Action Plan and the new Irish Forest Strategy/Programme.
In terms of full life cycle carbon accounting, studies are available which assess the GHG dynamics in the forest cycle and point toward the emissions from timber transport, road building and other activities as being a minor fraction of the positive GHG contribution of tree growth for typical productive forests. For such an analysis, it’s important to note that each forest site is very different and GHG dynamics are dependent on a number of variables including soil type, tree species, climate and previous land use. Coillte have undertaken a study to analyse fossil emissions in the forest product value chain. It identified that fossil emissions in the value chain were estimated at 0.38 million tCO2e for 2019.
This includes forest operations (7% of emissions), transport of wood to mill (17%), emissions resulting from mill processing (25%) and transport of products to customers (51%). Each product produced from Coillte forests were examined and supply chain emissions determined from local data and international forestry supply chain emissions studies.
