New Zealand farmers may soon be paying for greenhouse gas emissions from their animals.
In a world-first, New Zealand appears set to introduce a scheme that will require farmers to pay for their agricultural greenhouse gas emissions. The emissions created by the digestive systems of New Zealand’s 6.3m cows are among the country’s biggest environmental problems. The plan includes taxing both methane emitted by livestock and nitrous oxide emitted mostly from fertiliser-rich urine – which together contributes to around half of New Zealand’s overall emissions output.
“The proposal, as it stands, means New Zealand’s farmers are set to be the first in the world to reduce agricultural emissions,” said prime minister Jacinda Ardern, adding that it would give the country’s biggest export market (worth $46.4bn a year) a competitive advantage globally, while putting the country on track to meet its 2030 methane reduction target.
“No other country in the world has yet developed a system for pricing and reducing agricultural emissions, so our farmers are set to benefit from being first movers,” Ardern said. “Cutting emissions will help New Zealand farmers to not only be the best in the world but the best for the world.”
Under the proposed plan, by 2025, farmers who meet the threshold for herd size and fertiliser use, will be required to pay a levy the government will set every one to three years, on advice from the Climate Change Commission and farmers. The price will be influenced by the country’s progress towards meeting its international promise to cut methane by 10 percent by 2030, down from 2017 levels. It comes alongside a net-zero emissions target for 2050.
All revenue from the levy will go towards new technology, research and incentive payments to farmers who adopt climate-friendly practices.