New Zealand accused of ‘full-blown climate denial’ over cuts to methane reduction targets | New Zealand
Environmental campaigners have accused the New Zealand government of “complete climate denial” after it dropped targets to reduce emissions of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming.
New Zealand’s right-leaning coalition government announced plans on Sunday to cut methane emissions by 14% to 24% by 2050 compared to 2017 levels.
The previous target was between 24 and 47 percent.
Farmers who opposed the previous target praised the move, but scientists and opposition parties criticized it as “weak” and “unambitious”.
Greenpeace’s New Zealand office said the policy change “amounts to complete climate denial”.
Environment group climate campaigner Amanda Larsson said Prime Minister Christopher Luxon was “choosing corporate profits over the future of our children”.
Climate change minister Simon Watts said the government “remains committed to domestic and international climate change commitments, including net zero by 2050”.
“Agriculture will continue to make a significant and equitable contribution to achieving this reduction,” he said.
The government also confirmed it will hold a legislative review of biogenic methane targets in 2040 and will not impose a tax on agricultural methane emissions due to the threat of farm closures.
It will also invest NZ$400 million (US$230 million) in methane cutting technology.
Total agricultural emissions could drop by as much as 14 percent over the next decade if 30 percent of farmers adopt technologies expected to be available before 2030, Watts said.
But Massey University climate change mitigation expert Ralph Sims said there was “no guarantee” that scientific research would provide short-term solutions to the country’s biogenic methane problem, including the methane belched by the country’s five million cows and 23 million sheep.
Almost half of New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions come from agriculture, according to government figures.
Lawyers for Climate Action, an advocacy group, said the reduced target risked damaging New Zealand’s international standing.
Jocelyn Turnbull, chief scientist at the government-funded New Zealand Institute of Earth Sciences, also said it could damage New Zealand’s “clean and green” image.
But Federal Farmers of New Zealand, an agricultural lobby group, said the change was “long overdue”. Mayor Wayne Langford said previous methane reduction targets were “absolute madness”.
“Farmer families have been under great pressure for a long time, but it looks like this is finally coming to an end,” he said.
