The Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Calculator is a free tool, designed to help farmers measure on-farm GHG emissions and sequestration. Once you’ve done your calculation you can then choose to complete our online action plan. (Note: you need an online account to access these – see below for info).
About B+LNZ’s GHG Calculator
You can do a simple calculation using your existing farm area and stock numbers to get started with ‘emissions numbers’. You can also add further information to give you a more complete picture of your farm including sequestration.
Knowing your numbers provides a good base of information and helps prepare you for future requirements.
This calculator was funded by the Red Meat Profit Partnership (RMPP) and B+LNZ. It will help farmers and the sector meet early milestones of the He Waka Eke Noa climate action partnership that puts management and mitigation of GHG emissions in farmers’ hands, instead of simply being brought into the ETS.
More information:
- GHG Calculator factsheet (PDF, 566KB )
A note about methane targets, GWP* and warming
B+LNZ does not agree with the methane reduction targets set out in the Zero Carbon Act. We are separately calling on the Government to review the targets using the GWP* metric at a national level and to start reporting on the warming impact of various gases. GWP* isn’t practical or necessary at a farm level, in part because it requires around 20 years of historical data.
To support this split gas approach the GHG Calculator presents emission volumes for each gas without any conversion. Where necessary, the GHG Calculator also provides results in the commonly used metric of GWP100 so that farmers can relate more general conversations of GHG measurements back to their own business. This does not mean we endorse the use of the GWP100 metric for short-lived gases, or the current reductions targets.
About B+LNZ’s Online GHG Action Plan
Documenting a GHG action plan helps identify the risks of climate change and can help you prioritise actions and identify opportunities to reduce risk. You can use this online plan (or the paper equivalent) to record current and planned actions to manage your on-farm emissions and respond to a changing climate.
The action plan is a living document and references the updated ‘Responding to a changing climate’ chapter of B+LNZ’s farm plan. You can either complete the plan during a B+LNZ workshop or in your own time using the farm plan resources. We have provided this online version as one way to record your actions – it will also help us show that farmers are working towards the He Waka Eke Noa milestones around having written plans.
A short video guide is available summarising the GHG action plan resources available on this website. There’s also a video showing how to access and use the Online GHG action plan.
Before you get started
To use these tools, you need to have a B+LNZ online account. It’s quick and easy to set one up – info below. Logging in means your data is always secure to you and:
- for the GHG Calculator – you can go back and access or add information in future
- for the Online GHG Action Plan – you can save and return to your plan while it’s a draft, and when you’re ready save it and receive a PDF copy. When you save and email your plan, the form resets and doesn’t store your Action Plan.
Note you’ll need to have some key info on hand – this is listed before you begin. For the GHG Calculator there’s a handy User Guide (PDF, 579KB) and step-by-step video guides – and for the Action Plan it’s useful to have completed your emissions calculation and to have the ‘Responding to a changing climate’ chapter (PDF, 4MB) of the farm plan handy.
How to access the calculator or action plan
If you have a B+LNZ online account:
- Log in – the ‘My dashboard’ page will show the GHG Calculator and Action Plan as one of the options. Select ‘How to get started’.
- Read the info on the next page and click on the relevant button at the bottom to launch the tool.
If you don’t have a B+LNZ online account:
- Go to the Log in page of this website and set up an account – it only takes a minute or two.
- Logging in will take you to ‘My dashboard’, where you’ll see the GHG Calculator and Action Plan as one of the options.
- Read the info on the next page and click on the relevant button at the bottom to launch the tool.