Govt accused of backdown on farm emissions

AUCKLAND: The Government moved quickly yesterday to dismiss criticisms that its plans to make New Zealand’s rural sector greener were a backdown from a key election promise.

Instead, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Climate Change Minister James Shaw and a host of agricultural sector leaders yesterday talked up the importance of the new scheme and the ‘‘worldfirst’’ Government/ industry partnership.

Instead of taxing farmers on emissions between 2020 and 2025, the Government has opted to work with the agricultural sector to manage and mitigate onfarm emissions through the He Waka Eke Noa programme.

If the industry does a good enough job, and a new mechanism for pricing onfarm emissions is found, farmers do not have to worry about being included in the emissions trading scheme (ETS).

‘‘We could have forced the sector into a pricing regime that

it was completely allergic to,’’ Mr Shaw told media yesterday.

‘‘But, ultimately that would have been unsustainable.’’

But with this carrot, comes a big stick — a ‘‘Sword of Damo

cles’’, as National’s climate change spokesman Scott Simpson said.

If the Interim Climate Change Commission (ICCC) is not happy with the industry’s progress in

two years’ time, farmers will be brought into the ETS as early as 2022.

Ms Ardern this morning called this a ‘‘fallback’’ option and announced the Government

would be legislating to tax farmers on 5% of their emissions if the sector fails on its He Waka Eke Noa obligations.

But major sector players, including Dairy NZ, are confident this will never happen.

Fonterra’s chief executive Miles Hurrell said the announcement was a ‘‘significant step forward’’ and was a much better option than ‘‘imposing a broadbased tax’’.

Ms Ardern and Mr Shaw talked up the importance of the plan and why the Government needed to work with the sector.

‘‘We needed [a plan] that is good for the environment, but one that also supports our productive sector to make the transition that we need to make together,’’ Ms Ardern said.

But soon after the plan was announced, it came under fire from Greenpeace, who labelled it a ‘‘major sellout’’.

‘‘An emissions trading scheme without the [agriculture] sector in it is a joke and won’t be able to combat the climate emergency — the greatest threat humanity has ever faced,’’ the organisation said.

In response, Ms Ardern said the Government was ‘‘absolutely’’ not backing down.

Before the election, Labour promised to bring agriculture into the ETS in its first term.— The New Zealand Herald