The government is moving closer to agreeing strict new CO2 emissions targets for a range of sectors, including agribusiness.
All government sources involved in the talks said they believe the coalition parties could reach an agreement as early as Thursday afternoon.
Climate minister and Green Party leader Eamon Ryan is expected to make an announcement tonight on the first of their kind climate targets.
The main bottleneck remains the target to be set for the agricultural sector, which is expected to be between 24 and 26 percent of carbon emissions by 2030.
The highest target for the sector was a 30 percent reduction in emissions, but there was enormous resistance to the proposal from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.
Agriculture Secretary Charlie McConalogue has made every effort to keep the target for farmers as low as possible.
Over the past 24 hours, talks have intensified on how to achieve the government’s target of reducing overall carbon emissions by 51 percent by 2030.
And now a deal is expected to be reached on the agricultural sector that will be supported by all three coalition parties.
A source said nothing has been officially signed yet, but the government is “entering an area where a deal can be struck today”.
While the agricultural industry target has proven to be the most controversial, there has also been much debate about the limits to be placed on other sectors, including transport, energy and industry.
The main concerns of those involved in the negotiations are the introduction of objectives that can realistically be achieved by the sectors concerned.
A series of incentives are also being prepared to encourage farmers and companies to adopt a more sustainable approach to their activities.
A so-called ‘accelerator team’ has been appointed within the Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management to initiate the necessary government policy required to achieve a significant reduction in CO2 emissions by road users.
The agreed ranges for the limits are:
Electricity: 62-81 st
Transport: 42-50 pcs
Buildings: 44-56pc
Industry/enterprise: 29-41 st
Agriculture: 22-30 pcs
Land use, land use change and forestry: 37-58pc
It is expected that the upper limit for most sectors, with the exception of agriculture, will be announced when the final figures are published.