Politicians wary over emissions plan

• Author: Russell Palmer of RNZ
• Published date: 16 June 2022
• Publication title: Guardian, The

Agriculture industry bodies and Māori — with input from the ministries of primary industries and environment — released their long-awaited plan to get the sector’s emissions priced this month

The plan produced by the He Waka Eke Noa partnership is an alternative vision of how farmers can contribute to emission reduction costs without being lumped into the Government’s Emissions Trading Scheme — an outcome that remains possible depending on the Government’s response.

It aimed to separate pricing for methane, carbon and nitrous oxide emissions and proposed including incentives for farmers to adopt new emission-reducing technologies and practices.

The result would cover larger farms accounting for about 96 per cent of agricultural emissions, requiring them to report emissions numbers, plan for greenhouse gas management, and pay for methane and long-lived gas emissions.

Climate Change Minister James Shaw said the Government would need to go through a process before officially responding to the plan.

“The Government has a formal process to go through where we’ve received the report, we now have to get official advice on that, we have to consult the public on final proposals and so on,” Shaw said.

“So we don’t yet have a position and it’s going to be a while before we do have a position on the particular merits of the proposals that were presented.”

However, the plan was vague on specific stock pricing for greenhouse gas emissions.

It offered modelling for a range of pricing options, urged a heavy discount to levies with only a 1 percentage point increase in exposure each year, and a maximum price for methane of 11 cents per kilogram for the first three years.

Green Party agriculture spokesman Teanau Tuiono said it left more questions than answers.

“The No 1 priority has to be reducing emissions to meet the targets and ensure a safe climate for future generations, but it’s not clear if or how the sector’s proposal will do that,” Tuiono said.

“We know many farmers and growers want to do the right thing for the climate, but it’s not clear that the sector’s proposals will actually help them shift to low emissions and regenerative farming practices.”

He said it made it look like the sector was given a hallway pass on emissions reduction, “and used it to wag class”.

“The report itself admits that further work is needed on many of its key proposals. Time is fast running out for the climate. There are only eight more lambing and calving seasons before the 2030 methane...