Joint media release
“Official’s advice validates the arguments we have been making that methane does not need to reduce by the amount proposed by the Government in the Zero Carbon Bill in order to limit warming to no more than 1.5⁰C,” says Beef + Lamb New Zealand’s CEO Sam McIvor.
Mr McIvor’s comments are also echoed by DairyNZ’s CEO Dr Tim Mackle.
“The agricultural sector has consistently said that the Government is asking farmers to do more than what’s required, and more than what’s being asked by other sectors of the economy, and this has been confirmed by the Government’s own advice”, says Dr Mackle.
“We are willing to play our part to address climate change and want to have a transparent and science based discussion about what that should be.”
While the Government referenced the IPCC report, in applying the target for a global reduction in methane emissions to New Zealand, they have conveniently omitted the IPCC’s caveat that makes clear these global targets shouldn’t simply be slapped on individual countries.
“The combined effect of the excessive methane targets and net zero target for nitrous oxide, which even go beyond the IPCC’s advice for this gas, means that New Zealand is effectively aiming to go below 1.5 degrees and by doing so, letting other countries off the hook,” says Mr McIvor.
The Government is even being inconsistent in its own statements in saying it has relied on IPCC advice, with parliamentary written questions showing it did not seek any specific advice from the IPCC in doing this. Instead the Government has cherry picked the numbers it wanted and gone with the highest ranges it could find for methane, as well as going beyond what the IPCC recommended for nitrous oxide.
Federated Farmers’ National Vice President Andrew Hoggard says that the advice from MPI vindicates the sector’s position that the Government has opted for a political target on methane rather than a scientific one.
“When the IPCC explicitly states their global methane reduction targets shouldn’t be used as national targets, and Article 2 of the Paris Agreement requires countries to set targets in a manner that doesn’t threaten food production and to take into account different national circumstances, it’s disappointing that the Government has opted to pursue a political target agreed at Cabinet to make it feel good on the world stage regardless of its lack of scientific backing or the disastrous consequences it could have on New Zealand’s food producers,” says Mr Hoggard.
B+LNZ, DairyNZ, and Federated Farmers, while all having made individual submissions on the Zero Carbon Bill, are united in their view that the proposed 24-47 percent target is too high and are encouraging the Government to take a science-based approach that reflects the fact that methane only needs to reduce by a small amount each year in order to contribute no additional warming.
ENDS
Media contacts:
- B+LNZ: Gwynn Compton: 027 838 6353
- DairyNZ: Aaron Letcher: 027 538 2437
- Federated Farmers: Leigh Catley: 027 241 4350
NOTES FOR EDITORS
The following is a link to the MPI Cabinet Paper released under an OIA: https://beeflambnz.com/sites/default/files/B18-0950.pdf
The following are the caveats in the IPCC report about not using their global targets and applying simply at the individual country level as national characteristics can differ substantially.
“Indicators have been selected to show global trends identified by the Chapter 2 assessment. National and sectoral characteristics can differ substantially from the global trends shown above.”
The Notes to the table also state: “These pathways illustrate relative global differences in mitigation strategies, but do not represent central estimates, national strategies, and do not indicate requirements.”
The following table is taken from the IPCC report which summarises some of the “pathways” identified for keeping global temperatures within 1.5 degree increase. The government choose the highest range for methane and then went beyond the IPCC on nitrous oxide as it has proposed net zero for nitrous oxide, when the IPCC interquartile range was -26 to 1.
