New Zealand’s red meat sector supports the intent behind proposed changes to the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) but is urging the Government to go further to prevent the continued wholesale conversion of productive sheep and beef farmland into carbon farms.
The Government has introduced legislation aiming to restrict wholesale conversions of farmland to exotic forestry by stopping land use class 1–5 land from entering the ETS and capping new ETS registrations on LUC 6 land.
However, Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ) and the Meat Industry Association (MIA) are calling for urgent changes to strengthen the legislation including tightening the criteria for temporary exemptions that currently allow land converted after 4 December 2024 to enter the ETS.
They also want the Government to extend the proposed moratorium on whole farm conversions to all land classes, not just classes 1–5.
B+LNZ chair Kate Acland says that while the Bill is a step in the right direction, the changes proposed by B+LNZ and MIA are essential if the legislation is to have real impact.
“The Government needs to tighten the temporary exemptions that allow land converted after 4 December 2024 to enter the ETS. The criteria are too broad and open to abuse.
“It’s also critical the moratorium is extended beyond what is currently proposed. Current restrictions only apply to land classes 1–5, yet we know 89 per cent of whole farm conversions to date have occurred on land classes 6–8. Land class 6, in particular, is highly productive and vital to the sector.
“New Zealand’s food-producing farms should not be sacrificed to plug ETS loopholes for fossil fuel emitters. Our proposals don’t stop forestry establishment for harvesting, they simply stop the ETS from distorting land use decisions.
“Unless these loopholes are closed, significant areas of productive farmland will continue to be lost, and we will see more and more rural communities hollowed out.”
New Zealand is the only country in the world, aside from Kazakhstan, that places no restrictions on the use of forestry offsets in its ETS, says Acland.
“Since 2017, at least 300,000 hectares of whole sheep and beef farms have been sold to forestry interests. We estimate a further 50,000 hectares will be added before the new rules take effect.
Without stronger controls, we could see a million hectares lost by 2050. This is unsustainable for our sector, our rural communities, and the country.
“B+LNZ analysis shows these land use changes could reduce livestock numbers by 2.5 million stock units and shrink the sheep and beef sector’s grassland base by 19 per cent, with flow-on effects for regional New Zealand.”
Access the B+LNZ and MIA submission to the Environment Select Committee here (4.3 MB)
ENDS
For media queries, email media@beeflambnz.com