A load of sheep: New Zealand seeks burping livestock tax

Manuka honey, rugby, and Lord of the Rings. Those are things that New Zealand is known for, in addition to its sheep population. There are roughly 6 sheep per person on the island(s) of New Zealand.

But none of those are why New Zealand is in the news these days.

New Zealand has a plan.

A plan to tax livestock burps.

Let’s back up a few steps.

Livestock emissions in the scope of all human emissions are actually very low. An article from the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) that was updated in 2022 discusses the actual emissions from animals.

In the opening statement, the FAO tosses out a number that is staggeringly low compared to what we have been hearing. Globally, they say, livestock are responsible for 14.5% of all human-emitted greenhouse gasses per year.

There are a few issues with that number, if we read articles discussing the recent New Zealand law proposal. All of those articles claim (largely without a citation of any sort) that cows are responsible for somewhere between 40 and 44% of all methane emissions.

They skipped the lesson in grade school about how to read a scientific paper.

FAO’s article continues on to break down that 14.5% of greenhouse gas emissions that all livestock globally are responsible for- and near the end, it states that 44% of the livestock emissions are methane.

Let’s reiterate that. The 2022 FAO article is saying that 44% of that 14.5% total global livestock GHG emissions are methane.

That does not mean that cows emit 44% of the methane each year which is the number that most articles ran with, including one from NPR.

ALL livestock, globally, emits 14.5% of the greenhouse gasses attributed to humans. OF THAT TOTAL, 44% is methane.

While the numbers have been inflated beyond our wildest dreams, FAO’s article (which can be found at (https:// www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/197623/icode/), should clear things up. It’s a short, to the point article- but the numbers have to be taken in context. Remember that number for the next time you see an article about livestock emissions.

And to further put it into perspective, according to an August 2022 article from Reuters by Gloria Dickie, landfills produce 11% of the global methane emissions. That isn’t a percentage of a percentage, like FAO’s article with livestock. That’s a solid total.

Another major source of methane is the movement and extraction of oil, natural gas, and coal, says NASA’s Earth Observatory. That doesn’t include the burning of those extracted fossil fuels, either- of which private jets contribute an extraordinarily large amount, emissionwise.

New Zealand’s plan to tax methane from livestock is going to have interesting effects, because sheep are ruminants too.

Right now, their tax plan is in the draft stage, to be implemented in 2025. With any luck, New Zealand will investigate the sources of emissions further before pointing the finger at livestock as the biggest culprit.

It’s really easy to see a percentage and form an opinion- but it’s just as easy to find a percentage somewhere and mis-state it in a way that scares people. Citations are required in scientific papers for a reason, and we in the media would do well to remember our citations, as well.