Mixed reaction to emissions plan
Aspects of scheme are not effective says farmer
Bay of Plenty farmers have welcomed Government investment in emissionsreducing technology but one says the plan is little more than “grandiose money-spending”.
The Government announced a raft of climate-focused plans and funding this week, focused on reducing the country’s emissions. There was an emphasis on decarbonising transport and industry as well as agriculture and forestry futures.
It announced its first Emissions Reduction Plan on Monday, allocating an initial $2.9 billion through the Budget with a further $1.5 billion to be allocated in future Budgets.
The plan aimed for a high-wage, low-emissions economy. Its target was for long-lived greenhouse gas emissions to be net zero and biogenic methane emissions to be 24-47 per cent below 2017 levels by 2050.
Aspects of the plan received funding from the Government’s new Climate Emergency Response Fund in Budget 2022.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the issue of climate change could not be left until it was too late to fix.
“Our plan is achievable because it includes a role for Government as well as for every community and sector of the economy.”
Climate Change Minister James Shaw said over the past four years the Government had put in place a framework for enduring climate action and the country was on track “to bend the curve of its emissions downwards for the first time”.
Impact on industry
Potentially the most contentious aspects of the plan were the implications for the agricultural sector. Agricultural emissions make up 50 per cent of NZ’S gross emissions and the sector will get $710m over the next four years to help lower them.
The key points for agriculture in the plan were that an agricultural emissions pricing mechanism would be introduced by 2025 and $339m to fund new technology and establish a Centre for Climate Action on Agricultural Emissions.
He Waka Eke Noa explored alternative pricing approaches to the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme and its final advice will be provided to ministers by May 31. Expected reductions will depend on the details of the recommended pricing mechanism, such as what mitigations are recognised and rewarded, and how revenue is recycled to support further reductions.
University of Otago Agricultural Innovation Programme director Professor Craig Bunt said the plan did not excessively add more restrictions to farming activities.
But Kaharoa farmer Lachlan Mckenzie disagreed. “Taxing into submission does not work.”
He was supportive of further research into technologies as he had seen the benefits over the years himself but said farmers were unable to utilise innovation already available to them with barriers such as regulation and resource consents.
He said the announcement was “grandiose money spending” and would not be effective.
“Empower the farmer to do the right thing as opposed to the regulation which stymies innovation, reducing efficiency.”
Shaw responded by saying many farmers were already taking action to reduce emissions and the Government would continue to support them.
“A key focus of the emissions reduction plan is on helping farmers make the changes we already know can make a difference to emissions, and to drive further reductions by accelerating investment in new mitigation tools and technology.”
Bay of Plenty Federated Farmers president Darryl Jensen said he felt the news was “relatively positive”. “We were scared that agriculture would be thrown under the bus.”
Aspects he did not agree with included instances of high-producing farmland being converted to carbon sinks.
He utilised less productive areas on his dairy farm by increasing native biodiversity. “Don’t just chuck in a pine there for the sake of putting a tree in there.”
He welcomed investment in technology and research.
NIWA Carbon Chemistry and Modelling principal scientist Dr Sara Mikaloff-fletcher said the Emissions Trading Scheme incentivised planting exotic trees over indigenous for rapid growth and potential carbon absorption. But the Emissions Reduction Plan supported a transition towards planting permanent indigenous forests instead.
Risks associated with forest carbon uptake included it slowing or reversing due to forest degradation and climate change.
“A clear view of how our changing climate will impact native forests is essential to ensure the success of this plan.”
Dr Julian Elder, chief executive of Rotorua-based crown research institute Scion said the Government had committed significant new investments in forestry.
“This is a significant opportunity for our sectorand for supporting regional economies.”