EDWIN Poots has said that he would prefer that the north has no climate legislation if it means Stormont implementing Clare Bailey's private member's bill.
The agriculture minister's comments will do little to allay the fears of those who suspect Mr Poots is happy to wind down the clock to the end of the current mandate and avoid legislating for climate action.
The Green Party leader has described his remarks as "disturbing".
There are currently two separate pieces of climate legislation progressing through the assembly, in what is thought to be an unprecedented situation.
Ms Bailey's bill was launched more than a year ago with the support of all of Stormont's main parties bar the DUP and is regarded as the stronger of the two pieces of proposed legislation.
Mr Poots brought forward his bill, which includes less ambitious carbon net zero targets, in June.
The Irish News revealed last month that the DUP minister had written to the Green leader urging her to shelve the private member's bill.
Ms Bailey rejected the request, insisting her bill is "the best option for delivering the legislative framework for tackling climate change".
Speaking on Radio Ulster's Farming Matters earlier this week, Mr Poots said he had proposed compromises but they had "not been reciprocated" by the South Belfast MLA.
"The fact of life is that the Green Party in my opinion have identified that they have the support of Sinn Féin, the SDLP, Ulster Unionists and Alliance Party to take this forward and even if one of those parties falls off and doesn’t support them they would still carry it, so they don’t need to compromise," he said.
The minister said he believed there would be climate change legislation before the end of the assembly mandate, scheduled for next spring, but that it may "fundamentally undermine agriculture in a way that would leave it unsustainable".
Asked if he would rather Ms Bailey's bill fell, he replied: "Yes – I would prefer that we didn’t have a bill at all if it wasn’t the right bill."
Ms Bailey pointed out that the north remains the only part of Ireland or Britain with no with no climate legislation, yet the region has the "highest per capita emissions anywhere in these islands".
"It is disturbing to hear that Minister Poots would prefer to have no legislation at all rather than a bill he doesn’t like," she said.
"Climate change denial has turned into climate action delay – but the global climate crisis is simply too urgent to delay taking immediate action to reach net zero."
She said her bill "remains on track to become law in this assembly term".
The Green leader said that in discussions with officials from Mr Poots' department there was an unwillingness "to offer any meaningful compromises to improve upon the narrow scope and weak ambition of the minister’s bill".
Ms Bailey said she had written to Mr Poots last month "to outline the detail of an enhanced Climate Change Bill, incorporating technical details of his bill into the cross-party bill" but had yet to receive a response.
Among her proposed amendments is a 'Just Transition Fund for Agriculture' that would ensure that farmers are financially protected from the move towards net zero.
