New Zealand plan burp tax for livestock

The New Zealand Government has launched draft proposals to tax farmers on their cattle and sheep burps in a bid to tackle rising greenhouse gas levels.

If adopted, New Zealand will be the first country in the world to enter into such a scheme that will tax farmers on the amount of methane produced by their livestock.

These unique plans have been drawn up by the country’s government and farming representatives in a bid to tackle their greenhouse gas emissions, almost half of which are produced by agriculture.

When cows burp, they release bursts of gas that are full of methane, a greenhouse gas that traps heat from the sun more than 20 times as efficiently as carbon dioxide.

Professor John Wallace from Aberdeen University said: “People think of carbon dioxide as the main greenhouse gas, but methane is pretty important too.

“From all the greenhouse gas emissions produced by man, 16% of this is methane, while around a third of that comes from ruminant livestock.”

The new proposals plan to charge farmers for their gas emissions from 2025, with different charges for those gases that are shorter and longer term. Farmers will also receive incentives in the scheme if they can demonstrate their emissions are falling by using feed additives, and they can use on-farm forestry areas to offset emissions.

Dairy farmer Andrew Hoggard, who is also the national president of Federated Farmers of New Zealand, said he broadly approved of the proposals.

He said: “We’ve been working with the government and other organisations on this for years to get an approach that won’t shut down farming in New Zealand, so we’ve signed off on a lot of stuff we’re really happy with.

“But you know, like all of these types of agreements with so many parties involved, there’s always going to be a couple of dead rats you have to swallow.”

Last month, New Zealand’s finance minister dedicated NZ$2.9 billion for initiatives to tackle climate change, which were to be funded by an emissions trading system that taxed polluters.

The money raised from this livestock burp tax scheme will be invested in research, development and advisory services for farmers, the country’s environment ministry said.

New Zealand Climate Change Minister James Shaw said: “There is no question that we need to cut the amount of methane we are putting into the atmosphere, and an effective emissions pricing system for agriculture will play a key part in how we achieve that.”

The proposals have been introduced for consultation and a final decision on them is expected to be made by December.

METHANE RISK: New Zealand has unveiled plans to tax burps from cows and sheep.