Now that the UK Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) is established, the UK Government, Scottish Government, Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Executive want to further develop the scheme and to make it the world’s first net zero consistent 'cap and trade' market, and have launched a consultation: Developing the UK Emissions Trading Scheme (UK ETS)
Relevance to agriculture
While the consultation is clear that there is no proposal to expand the UK ETS to agriculture at this time, there are many aspects of the consultation which are very relevant to our sector.
For example, it asks whether the UK ETS could become a market for carbon storage on farms and what the barriers are to farmers and growers using GHG calculators.
Share your views
This BEIS consultation wants stakeholder views to ensure that the UK ETS leads to workable GHG emission reductions and continues to demonstrate the UK’s leadership on carbon pricing.
You can answer any of the questions yourself using the online survey. The consultation closes on Friday 17 June at 11.45pm.
The government is particularly interested in hearing from individual farmers on questions 165 to 168.
- Q165. Are you currently using carbon audit tools? If so which one(s) and what have you changed? If no, what has prevented you from using these tools?
- Q166. What are the barriers to implementing robust Monitoring, Reporting and Verification of greenhouse gas emissions, and how can we improve record-keeping?
- Q167. Remote sensing technologies and earth observation could be used to complement carbon reporting tools. Do you have any concerns about utilising this technology and what could reassure you?
- Q168. How can carbon audit and reporting tools be used in conjunction with other business planning mechanisms?