Ireland under fire for downplaying climate impact of cattle

Dublin wants to follow fellow farming powerhouse New Zealand in changing the way methane pollution from its many cows is factored into climate policy, a move scientists warn could exacerbate global warming.

Climate campaigners and scientists fear that adopting the new methane counting protocols which are also gaining ground in the US and Brazil would favour existing large emitters of the climate super-pollutant – and supercharge global warming.