He Waka Eke Noa hits choppy waters
Asuspected arson on a Wairarapa farm on Monday morning proved an early precursor to fiery rhetori from some in reaction to the Government’s announcement on agricultural emissions 10 minutes down the road.
The world-first He Waka Eke Noa Primary Sector Climate Action Partnership scheme proposes that New Zealand farmers will pay for their emissions by 2025. The revenue will be recycled back into the agriculture sector through new technology, research and incentive payments to farmers.
The ACT Party inflammably declared that Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has destroyed the most efficient farming industry in the world. Federated Farmers said the proposals would “rip the guts out of small-town New Zealand”.
“The Government’s plan means the small towns, like Wairoa,
Pahiatua, Taumarunui — pretty much the whole of the East Coast and central North Island and a good chunk of the top of the South — will be surrounded by pine trees quicker than you can say ‘ETS application’,” said Federated Farmers president Andrew Hoggard.
It should be remembered the Government has, for the most part, delivered what farmers asked for after calls from the sector to have a farmgate emissions pricing system that would reward climate-friendly farmers.
However, it isn’t everything the sector asked for. Notably, a request that levies be set by the sector has been expunged. These instead will be set by the Government, with the Climate Change Commission in a “critical role”, acting independently on evidence and research.
The green lobby was also unimpressed, with Greenpeace saying the scheme will fail to cut climate emissions from agriculture.
The Government naturally focused on the advantages, saying our farmers could lead the world in reducing emissions and gain a competitive advantage in greenconscious global marketplace.
In calling the scheme a world first, the Government has unnecessarily portrayed New Zealand as an outlier. The Netherlands and Ireland have also entrenched agricultural emissions reduction into law.
In New Zealand, it is likely to reduce herds as some high-emission farms depart the sector but many will find ways to maintain profitability while paying the price and taking advantage of the so-called “backstop” of forestry offsetting.
Meanwhile, calls for more urgent action continue to pile up. Two-anda-half hours after the Government announced the proposals on the farm in Featherston, the World Meteorological Organisation warned the supply of electricity from clean energy sources must double within the next eight years to limit global temperature increase.
Ultimately, this is a message no government would want to deliver. That flames of condemnation from all sides will give this Government some confidence it has landed near the right position.