Northern Ireland has passed its first climate bill after it was voted through at the Stormont Assembly today.
It brings to an end a long-running controversy that saw Northern Ireland as the only part of the UK without its own climate legislation - though it did contribute to overall UK emissions targets.
The bill commits Northern Ireland to a net zero greenhouse gas emissions target by 2050.
It has a separate target for methane due to Northern Ireland's economic dependence on agriculture.
There had been claims that without that, climate legislation would have been hugely detrimental to a farming and food industry which supports more than 100,000 jobs.
A separate competing climate bill which proposed tougher targets over a shorter timeframe has now been withdrawn.
Stormont’s Green Party leader Clare Bailey, who co-sponsored it, said the departmental legislation which had been passed had been greatly strengthened by assembly amendments.
But she said the separate treatment of methane was not welcome.
It means that methane emissions for Northern Ireland in 2050 are not required to be more than 46% of the 1990 level which has been set as the baseline.
