Decoupling Emissions from Economic Activity 2022

• Agriculture accounted for 39% of emissions, 1% of gross value added, and 4% of employment in 2022 (See Figure 2.2 and Table 2.1). 

• Between 2010 and 2022 GVA almost doubled while emissions increased by 17%. Employment was down 3% on 2010 in 2022 (See Figure 2.1 and Table 2.1).

• Around 73% of emissions were from livestock activities such as digestive processes and manure treatment. Other agricultural activities such as fertiliser use and liming accounted for 22% of the total. The remaining 5% of emissions were from fuel combustion and electricity use (See Figure 2.3 and Table 2.3).

• The output of agriculture is an important input for other NACE sectors, e.g. in 2020, 43% of the value of the output of the Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing sector was used as an input by the Food manufacturing sector (See Table 2.5).

• In 2022, €59 million in environment taxes was paid by the Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing sector while €306 million was received in subsidies. In 2022, the Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing sector paid over €2 in environment taxes per tonne of carbon dioxide emitted (See Figure 2.6 and Table 2.6).

Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Economic Activity in the Agriculture Sector

Figure 2.1 shows trends in greenhouse gas emissions, gross value added at constant (2022) prices, and employment numbers for the Agriculture sector from 2010 to 2022. From 2014 to 2022, gross value added (GVA) at constant prices was higher relative to 2010 than greenhouse gas emissions were. This shows that an element of relative decoupling was achieved in these years as GVA increased at a greater rate than emissions. Between 2010 and 2022 GVA almost doubled while emissions increased by 17%. Employment was down 3% on 2010 in 2022. 

Figure 2.2 shows the Agriculture sector share of total emissions, GVA, and employment. In 2022, emissions from Agriculture were 39% of total greenhouse gas emissions, compared with 32% in 2010. The Agriculture share of GVA remained fairly steady between 2010 and 2022 at 1% of total GVA, while the employment share fell from 5% to 4% in the same time period.

Table 2.1 shows data on levels of greenhouse gas emissions, GVA, and employment numbers for the Agriculture sector from 2010 to 2022, as well as the share of total emissions, GVA and employment. In 2022, emissions were 23.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, GVA was €5.4 billion, and employment in the sector was 98,375 persons.

A fuller picture of work and employment in the Agriculture sector is provided in Table 2.2, which shows data on the Agriculture labour force in 2020. These data, from the CSO Census of Agriculture 2020, show that there were 278,580 farm workers in 2020. This figure includes farm holders, their family members who did some farmwork during the year, and regular non-family workers, and is therefore considerably higher than the figure of 98,225 persons in 2020 in Table 2.1. As many of the family farm workers were not working full-time on the farm, annual work units were lower than total farm workers at 154,304 in 2020.

Sources of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Trend in Livestock Units

Figure 2.3 shows greenhouse gas emissions from the Agriculture sector by source in 2022. Around 73% of emissions were from livestock activities such as digestive processes and manure treatment. Other agricultural activities such as fertiliser use and liming accounted for 22% of the total. The remaining 5% of emissions were from fuel combustion and electricity use.

Table 2.3 shows the breakdown by emissions source for 2010-2022.

Interactions between Agriculture and other NACE Sectors

Figure 2.5 and Table 2.5 show shares of uses of agricultural, forestry and fishing products. The main use in 2020 was by the food manufacturing sector (NACE 10) with 43% of the output of the agriculture, forestry and fishing sectors used as inputs by the food manufacturing sector. Over half (51%) of the output of the food manufacturing sector was exported. A further 5% of the monetary value of final uses of agricultural, forestry and fishing products was used by NACE divisions 11 and 12 (manufacture of beverages and tobacco products).

The table shows that the value added by other NACE sectors to the outputs from the Agriculture sector is important when evaluating the economic and employment importance of the sector.

Environmental Subsidies and Taxes in the Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing Sector

Figure 2.6 shows a comparison of environmental taxes paid and environmental subsidies received by the Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing sector for 2010-2022. The majority of environmental taxes and subsidies are paid or received by the Agriculture sector with smaller proportions relating to forestry and fishing activities. Environment taxes paid by the Agriculture sector consist mainly of energy taxes on fuels, while subsidies are predominantly agri-environment schemes aimed at protecting biodiversity. In 2022, €59 million in environment taxes was paid by the Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing sector while €306 million was received in subsidies. 

Table 2.6 shows the Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing sector share of environmental taxes and subsidies for 2010-2022. In 2010, the sector share of environment taxes was 1% and the sector share of environmental subsidies was 48%. While the share of environment taxes remained steady across the time period and was also 1% in 2022, the share of environmental subsidies fell to 20% in 2022. The sector share of greenhouse gas emissions was 32% in 2010 and 39% in 2022.

Table 2.6 also shows data on environment taxes paid per tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent emitted by the sector. In 2022, the Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing sector paid over €2 per tonne of carbon dioxide emitted.