\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2019\/10\/db5857c3-greenhouse-gas-emissions.jpg\")
\nTable ES 4.1 New Zealand\u2019s gross emissions by sector in 1990 and 2017
\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2019\/10\/70c21a92-nzs-gross-emissions.jpg\")
<\/p>\nGreenpeace is calling the Government\u2019s surprise backdown on its commitment to put farming into the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) a major sell-out.<\/p>\n
The Prime Minister is expected to announce that agriculture, the country\u2019s largest greenhouse gas polluter, will be exempt from a price on its emissions until 2025. The ETS is one of the Government\u2019s main tools for controlling emissions and meeting climate targets.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Government has buckled to lobbying pressure from the dairy industry and big agri-business,\u201d says Greenpeace campaigner, Gen Toop.<\/p>\n
\u201cAgriculture is our biggest climate polluter. An emissions trading scheme without the sector in it is a joke and won\u2019t be able to combat the climate emergency – the greatest threat humanity has ever faced.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Government is protecting the short term profits of a few in the dairy and agricultural sector at the expense of the rest of us and the future of our entire planet.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Labour party policy was to bring agriculture into the ETS in this electoral term. This was reiterated in their coalition agreement with New Zealand First, where they committed to only pricing 5% of agriculture\u2019s emissions, effectively giving the sector a 95% subsidy.<\/p>\n
Toop says, \u201cIt is unjust that this Government is allowing the dairy and agriculture industry to carry on with business as usual. The climate science is clear, this is not business as usual.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBusiness as usual will mean the end of the world as we know it. We are facing widespread starvation, human displacement and suffering, mass extinction of wildlife and ecological collapse.<\/p>\n
\u201cGovernments worldwide have to stop pandering to polluting industries and start taking action.\u201d<\/p>\n
Agriculture makes up 49% of NZ\u2019s emissions. Those emissions have risen 13.5% since 1990. The dairy sector is the largest single polluter, emitting more than the entire transport sector.<\/p>\n
Including agriculture in the ETS at 5% was predicted to have minimal financial impact on the sector. WIth a 95% free allocation; Dairy farmers would pay just 1 cent per kg of milk solids, cattle farmers 1 cent per kg of beef, and sheep farmers 3 cents per kg of meat. (2)<\/p>\n
\u201cThe dairy industry and big agri-business are driving the worsening climate emergency. But this Government is not even brave enough to make the industry pay just one cent per kilogram of milk solids.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat hope can we have now of them taking any action to drive the transition away from intensive livestock farming, which is what the climate science says needs to happen to keep the world under 1.5 degrees.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Government received thousands of submissions this year supporting the proposal to bring agriculture into the ETS. But, those pleas have fallen on deaf ears.<\/p>\n
\u201cDespite thousands of students striking in the streets calling for action on the climate crisis, the Government is two years into this electoral term and has yet to take any serious action to directly target and reduce agricultural emissions.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo have a fighting chance of survival we have to rapidly reduce emissions, starting now. In NZ that means far fewer cows and a swift transition away from intensive livestock into more plant-based regenerative farming.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ends<\/p>\n
Contact:
\nGreenpeace campaigner, Genevieve Toop – 021 316 840
\nCommunications and media, Phil Vine – 021 809 422<\/p>\n
References<\/p>\n
(1) Ministry for the Environment & Stats NZ. \u201cNew Zealand\u2019s Greenhouse Gas Inventory 1990\u20132017\u201d Retrieved from www.mfe.govt.nz
\n
\nTable ES 4.1 New Zealand\u2019s gross emissions by sector in 1990 and 2017
\n<\/p>\n
(2) Ministry for the Environment. 2019. Action on agricultural emissions: A discussion document on proposals to address greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture.<\/p>\n
Greenpeace is calling the Government\u2019s surprise backdown on its commitment to put farming into the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) a major sell-out. The Prime Minister is expected to announce that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":6750,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_planet4_optimize_post_is_variant":false,"_planet4_optimize_experiment_name":"","_planet4_optimize_variant_name":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"not set","p4_local_project":"","p4_basket_name":"not set","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[16,19],"p4-page-type":[7],"class_list":["post-6745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-greenpeace","tag-climate","tag-food-and-farming","p4-page-type-press-release"],"yoast_head":"\n