All policies / Agriculture / IRL_P0101
Increased Liming
Programme affecting the Agriculture sector, using a subsidies & finance mechanism; in force since 2021.
About this policy
This measure captures the impact of reduced N fertiliser use due to improved nutrient use efficiency from liming (target liming usage of 2 Mt per annum) and an increase in direct CO2 emissions from lime application to soils.
About this type of instrument: subsidies, tax allowances and finance
High upfront costs, credit constraints and high implicit discount rates deter investments that pay back over time. Subsidies also support markets and supply chains for new technologies.
- Directly addresses capital barriers
- Politically acceptable and visible
- Can be targeted at low-income households
- Free-riding: some supported investments would have happened anyway
- Uptake often skews to higher-income groups
- Fiscal cost per tonne can be high
Measurement in this dataset. OECD financing indicators give only general context for specific programmes (a partial match). Most programme rows therefore rely on assumed timing. Bindingness is scored 0.5 (financial incentive).
Year by year
Filled markers use a matched OECD score; hollow markers use assumed timing. Shaded bands show the policy's status. Select a year on the chart or the slider to see how its intensity is built up.
Source records in the EEA registry
All EEA records linked to this policy. Records under the "with additional measures" scenario describe planned extensions; they are retained for traceability but are not treated as historical policy.
| PaM | Name as reported | Status | Scenario | Period | Ex-post kt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 101 | Increased Liming (With Existing Measures) | Implemented | With existing measures | 2021 | – |
Data-quality notes
Methodological notes recorded for this series, grouped by theme.
Timing assumptions
- Implementation in some years follows an assumed ramp-up because no matching OECD score is available.
- The policy has no reported end date; its status after the reporting date is reconstructed as continuing.
Policy-specific notes
- Liming releases CO₂ while potentially reducing N₂O; the net effect is uncertain.
Scoring conventions
- The unweighted equal-weight index remains positive before the policy starts; use the gated version for timing analysis.
- Bindingness is a normative score from the study rubric, not a measure of observed compliance.
- Coverage is an ordinal scope score, not a measured share of activity or emissions.
Selection context
- A negative 2030 projection was not used for default ranking.
- Policies were selected using recent (2024–2030) assessments, which can introduce retrospective selection bias.
Sources
- European Environment Agency. Reporting on national policies and measures, Ireland (report 1849), PaM 101. https://pam.apps.eea.europa.eu/