Following on from the Government agreement to the agricultural sector’s approach for developing an appropriate farm gate emissions pricing mechanism by 2025 - He Waka Eke Noa – the new steering group for this important piece of work got down to work during the Level 4 lockdown.
“The coming together of 11 different primary sector groups under He Waka Eke Noa was an unprecedented moment for our industry, so it’s really satisfying to finally get things officially underway,” says Jeremy Baker, Beef + Lamb New Zealand’s (B+LNZ) Chief Insights Officer and member of He Waka Eke Noa’s steering group.
“Climate change is a massive challenge both for the primary sector and New Zealand as a whole. Through the work of He Waka Eke Noa, we have an opportunity to take control of our role in combating global warming and come up with a farm-level system that works for farmers while delivering the greenhouse gas emissions reductions and on-farm offsets we need to play our part in this.”
Officially known as the Joint Action Plan for Primary Sector Emissions, the steering group has established a number of agreed actions and milestones that can be found on the Ministry for the Environment’s (MfE) website while a permanent online home for He Waka Eke Noa is developed: https://www.mfe.govt.nz/climate-change/joint-action-plan-reducing-primary-sector-emissions
On MfE’s website you can also find out more about the members of the steering group who have a range of backgrounds from across our rural communities.
“We have a talented, experienced, and hugely capable steering group for He Waka Eke Noa to push it along, and I’m excited working with them to help deliver this crucial piece of work for all of rural New Zealand,” says Mr Baker.
See the work Beef + Lamb New Zealand is supporting through the Pastoral Greenhouse Gas Consortium