Watch: ‘It's in Europe's interest to move off fossil fuels'
Donnelly was a panelist at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine's (DAFM) Agriculture and Climate Change conference in Dublin Castle today (June 5).
Climate Change Advisory Council's chairperson, Marie Donnelly
She told Agriland that Ireland's climate legislation is in place, but that it is 'not fast enough, and not deep enough'.
Donnelly said: 'At a European level, one of the political questions that's center stage right now is whether the commission will endorse the recommendations of the European Scientific Body for the 2040 Carbon Budget, which is a 90% reduction in emissions.
'It's quite a political discussion, members of the EU Parliament are discussing it. The commission is debating it, and we expect something in September.'
The Climate Change Advisory chair believes that there is a 'greater awareness' for farming as an industry, and as a way of life, and outlined the role that the EU will play in counteracting climate change.
'It's very important that Europe, as part of it's general approach, thinks about Europe itself, it's own self sufficiency, and it's own efficiency,' Donnelly said.
'When we look at climate change in Europe, it's very pertinent. Europe is the fast warming continent in the world.'
'What is causing global warming faster than anything else? Fossil fuels. Europe has no fossil fuels. We import all of our fossil fuels. Strategically, from a competitiveness point of view, and a security point of view, it's in Europe's interest to move off fossil fuels, as it happens it works for the climate,' Donnelly added.
Marie Donnelly
Donnelly believes that change is necessary throughout society in order to combat climate change, and that farmers will be impacted.
She said: 'To understand what change we need to make, and to support people in making that change, that includes farmers. It might be financial support, new research, new ways of doing things that allow farmers to be efficient and climate active at the same time.
'We have to think of ways to get information out to farmers. Yes it might be financial, but it's more than that, communication, education, dialogue, mutual support, farm leaders, to get message out to adopt new mechanism.
'Farmers have been adopting new methods always. This is not new for farming. If you look at farming 20 years ago, it's not the same as today. It's the nature of farming to modernise as it goes forward,' Donnelly added.
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