June 9, 2021 12:38 pm Ambitions to upgrade Northern Ireland’s recommended 82% reduction in Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions to net-zero will cost an additional £900 million a year to achieve. Civil servants warned the Stormont Agriculture Committee last week, the difference between at least 82% reduction and net-zero for Northern Ireland would actually only correspond to a 0.73% additional reduction in the UK’s overall emissions while irreversibly damaging the NI’s economy. Cost to be borne by the Assembly Colin Breen, DAERA’s director of environmental policy, explained on the basis of current evidence, it was likely the net-zero target outlined in the private member’s Climate Change Bill would be “highly damaging to the local economy” and would involve simply off-setting emissions with carbon credits rather than any real reduction.