- Hon Todd McClay
- Hon Simon Watts
The Government has today passed changes setting a new sensible biogenic methane target, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts say.
The Climate Change Response (2050 Target and Other Matters) Amendment Bill passed its third reading today.
It updates the biogenic methane component of New Zealand's 2050 climate target and makes several other changes to ensure climate legislation remains fit for purpose.
"The Government announced in October its common-sense approach to setting a science-based biogenic methane target for 2050, and today we have delivered," Mr McClay says.
"The changes we've made provide farmers and exporters with certainty and a clear pathway to reduce emissions.
"At the same time, we can maintain productivity and trade competitiveness."
The Government is committed to New Zealand's domestic and international climate change commitments and agriculture will continue to make an important and fair contribution to achieving this reduction.
"Our methane targets must be practical for famers, because a climate solution that shuts down farms and sends production overseas to less efficient systems, is not a solution at all," Mr Watts says.
"We need to ensure that we are supporting our farmers. That's why the Government's approach to reducing agriculture emissions is clear - through technology and partnership we will deliver the reductions we need."
This Government is backing innovative technology to meet the target and is already investing more than $400 million with industry to speed up the development and roll-out of methane-cutting tools. The first is expected on farm in 2026, with up to 11 available by 2030.
The amendments:
- Reset biogenic methane target to 14-24 percent below 2017 levels by 2050.
- Legislate a review of the methane target in 2040 to ensure its alignment with science and against progress of key trading partners.
- Requires consideration of protecting food production when setting emissions budgets.
- Removes the requirement for ETS settings to accord with NDCs, clarifying the purpose of the ETS as our key tool to drive domestic emissions reductions.
- Defer the fourth emissions budget as more time is needed to reflect the updated 2050 target.
Passing this Bill also confirms the Government's decision to retain the current Net Zero target for long-lived gasses.
"We carefully considered the Climate Change Commission's proposal to shift the target from net zero to net-negative, assessing the potential impacts on both the economy and the climate. We found that strengthening the target would come at undue economic cost and therefore have retained gasses," Mr Watts says.
"Our latest projections show that we are on track to meet the net zero target eight years ahead of 2050."
The Government has passed this Bill under urgency to provide certainty for the agriculture sector.
"The debate over targets has gone on for far too long, and it is now time to move from discussion to action," Mr McClay says.
"This decision has been clearly signalled. It was a coalition commitment, and we have maintained transparency throughout the independent methane review."
