“Limitation of emissions”, full-width title of its one the New Zealand Herald this Wednesday, October 12. The day before, the government of Jacinda Ardern unveiled a plan to tax greenhouse gas emissions from farm animals. Consultations will now take place.
“Within three years”, still states in the Auckland newspaper above the silhouette of a grazing cow, farmers could be made to pay for their animals’ gas emissions, such as methane, contained in farts and burping of cows, and nitrous oxide, contained in the urine of cattle. It would then be “a world first”.
Farms transformed into forests
The agriculture sector is responsible for half of New Zealand’s greenhouse emissions. “The government has pledged to reduce methane emissions from agriculture and landfills by 10% by 2030,” explain it New Zealand Herald. Even more ambitious reductions have been announced for the years to follow, “in addition to the 2050 carbon neutrality target”.
With some farmers, the project does not pass. Like Andrew Hoggard, president of the Federated Farmers, who, quoted by the newspaper, said that this plan “would rip the guts out of small town New Zealand”. For him, the project will encourage owners of cattle and sheep farms to transform their farms into forests. The government, abounds the New Zealand Heraldplans to reduce the area devoted to beef and sheep farming by around 20% by 2030.
Criticized by breeders, the project is also criticized by some environmentalists. The New Zealand branch of Greenpeace considers this to be “green washing”. The government nevertheless hopes that the negotiations which are now open will lead to a signature next year and, therefore, to the entry into force of the project in 2025.