Economic Trends in High-emitting Sectors 2023

Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Economic Activity in the Agriculture Sector

Figure 2.1 shows trends in territorial greenhouse gas emissions, gross value added at constant (2023) prices, and employment numbers for the Agriculture sector from 2011 to 2023. From 2015 to 2023, gross value added (GVA) at constant prices was higher relative to 2011 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 2011 and 2023 GVA almost doubled while emissions increased by 11%. Employment was at a similar level in 2011 and 2023 but was up 3% on 2022 in 2023. 

Figure 2.2 shows the Agriculture sector share of total emissions, GVA, and employment. In 2023, emissions from Agriculture were 38% of total greenhouse gas emissions, compared with 33% in 2011. The Agriculture share of GVA remained fairly steady between 2011 and 2023 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 2011 to 2023, as well as the share of total emissions, GVA and employment. In 2023, emissions were 21 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (down from 22 million in 2022), GVA was €4.1 billion (up from €3.8 billion in constant prices in 2022), and employment in the sector was around 101.5 thousand persons (up from around 98 thousand in 2022).

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 territorial greenhouse gas emissions from the Agriculture sector by source in 2011 and 2023. In 2023, around 74% of emissions were from livestock activities such as digestive processes and manure treatment. Other agricultural activities such as fertiliser use and liming accounted for 21% 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 2011-2023.

Interactions between Agriculture and other NACE Sectors

Figure 2.5 and Table 2.5 show shares of uses of Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing products. The main use in 2021 was by the Manufacture of Food Products sector (NACE 10) with 44% of the output of the Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing sector used as inputs by the Manufacture of Food Products sector. Over half (56%) of the output of the Manufacture of Food Products sector was exported. A further 5% of the monetary value of final uses of Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing products was used by NACE divisions 11 and 12 (Manufacture of Beverages & 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 & Fishing Sector

Figure 2.6 shows a comparison of environmental taxes paid and environmental subsidies received by the Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing sector from 2011 to 2023. The majority of environmental taxes and subsidies are paid or received by the Agriculture sector with smaller proportions relating to Forestry and Fishing sector 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 2023, €74 million in environment taxes was paid by the Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing sector while €554 million was received in subsidies. 

Table 2.6 shows the Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing sector share of environmental taxes and subsidies from 2011 to 2023. In 2011, the sector share of environment taxes was 2% and the sector share of environmental subsidies was 46%. While the share of environment taxes remained fairly steady across the time period and was also 2% in 2023, the share of environmental subsidies fell to 20% in 2022 before rising to 31% in 2023. The sector share of greenhouse gas emissions was 33% in 2011 and 38% in 2023.

Table 2.6 also shows data on environment taxes paid per tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent emitted by the sector. In 2023, the Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing sector paid around €4 per tonne of carbon dioxide emitted.