Premium
Colm McCarthy
Opinion One planet needs one carbon plan — national targets won’t work
Since most farm produce is exported, imposing output restrictions in Ireland by, say, culling dairy cows, will fail to reduce emissions. With global demand unaffected, the shortfall will be met from producers elsewhere, including some whose carbon footprint per unit is worse than the figures for Ireland. As the planet shares a common atmosphere, territorial targets for carbon emissions make no scientific sense.