The New Zealand government on Tuesday unveiled a groundbreaking proposal to tax greenhouse gas emissions from sheep and cow burps and manure.
The plan, which does not provide an estimate of revenue, nor does it define the price of emissions or how they will be measured, will be in consultation with farmers until November 18.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said all the money raised from that tax, which will be collected from 2025, will be returned to industry through funding new technology, research and incentives for farmers.
“No other country in the world has yet developed an agricultural emission reduction and pricing system, so our farmers will benefit from being the first to act,” Ardern said in a statement.
The move follows efforts by the oceanic country, a major agricultural exporter, to combat the effects of the climate crisis and would make it the first nation where farmers pay for livestock emissions.
In New Zealand, a country of five million people, almost half of the country’s emissions come from the agricultural sector, mainly from the 26 million sheep and 10 million cows, ruminant mammals that expel the methane produced during digestion in the form of of belching and flatulence.
The proposal, also promoted by the alliance of primary sector associations He Waka Eke Noa, includes incentives for farmers to reduce emissions, which can also be offset by planting forests.
“This is an important step in New Zealand’s transition to a low-emissions future and delivers on our commitment to put a price on agricultural emissions from 2025 (…) The proposal allows New Zealand farmers to lead the world in reducing emissions, emissions, provides a competitive advantage and enhances our export brand,” said Ardern.
However, the proposal was criticized by breeders’ associations, on the grounds that it would lead to a reduction in the number of cattle and sheep farms in the country.
Federated Farmers, one of New Zealand’s leading industry lobby groups, responded that the government’s plan will “wipe out rural New Zealand” and lead to the replacement of farms with tree plantations, according to a statement from the group.
“Our plan was to keep farmers farming,” said the group’s president, Andrew Hoggard.
The agricultural sector accounts for 10% of New Zealand’s gross domestic product (GDP) and 65% of export earnings.
The New Zealand government, which aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, has until the end of the year to decide how it will tax emissions from the agricultural sector.
Source: TSF
