Climate Change and Emissions Trading
Federated Farmers takes its responsibilities as New Zealand citizens seriously. We know it is vital to use resources efficiently and wisely. We also know communities need to be resilient to a variety of challenges, both natural and created.
For much of the past 20 years or so agriculture, although often denigrated, still provides the lion's share that anchors the New Zealand economy and will continue to do so for generations to come.
The challenge for New Zealand is to find a balance between what some people in society view as right and what is reasonable. On the one hand, biological agricultural emissions are said to comprise around half this country's greenhouse gas emission. On the other hand, we remain the only country to consider imposing emissions liabilities on biological agricultural emissions and there are few, if any, mitigation technologies farmers can cost-effectively take up with confidence.
Given the imbalance in applying a carbon price on New Zealand food producers while competitors avoid any similar cost and cost-effective mitigation options remain largely non-existent, there must be conditions on the entry of biological agricultural emissions into the ETS. Federated Farmers would consider it reasonable that the review provisions in section 160 of the Climate Change Response Act be amended to require that future reviews specifically consider whether New Zealand finds itself in a position where:
- Competitors in other countries have similar schemes or otherwise face similar emissions
costs
- Economically-sustainable mitigation technologies are available for widespread uptake
- International rules allow New Zealand to recognise the uptake of such technologies.
The reason why the Federation insists these conditions must be built into future reviews is to ensure New Zealand's food production is not forced to bear a price of carbon, where to do so would make agriculture uncompetitive and the main response open to farmers would be to reduce production. This is a situation the government should look to avoid.
Climate change policies should be based on good science, be practical and cost-effective, and allow New Zealand farming to remain economically viable and internationally
competitive.
Federated Farmers Wants
- Climate change policies aligned with those of our key trading partners and competitors
- Changes to legislation to ensure agriculture remains out of the ETS far beyond the current entry date of 2015, until mitigation tools are available and our competitors do the same
- Changes to legislation to insert conditions on any decision to bring agriculture into the ETS.
Spokesperson
The spokesman for climate change and emissions trading on the National Board is Vice-President, Dr William Rolleston. You can contact him by calling him on 027 246 0643 and 03 687 4050 or email him at wrolleston@fedfarm.org.nz
Our policy advisor for climate change and emissions trading is Jacob Haronga. Jacob has worked on climate change policy for the Federation since 2001. He can be contacted on 0800 327 646 or jharonga@fedfarm.org.nz.
