Government’s greenhouse gas proposal
Gases from agriculture will be priced in 2025. This is set in legislation and has been agreed by all main political parties.
DINZ does not agree with the gas reduction targets currently set in legislation. This will be reviewed in 2024 and we will be arguing for targets based on warming impact, not total volume.
Agriculture is already in the NZ Emissions Trading Scheme, no one thinks this is the right place to price emissions.
DINZ has remained a He Waka Eke Noa partner because being at the table was the best chance of protecting the interests of New Zealand deer farmers and the wider deer industry.
Areas of Concern
We are however deeply concerned about the impact of the government’s recommendations on deer farmers and have been committed to improving elements of the design through the development process. The government proposals further remove critical safeguards and present strong risks to the viability of the sector.
A key concern is the impact on deer farmers from applying the principle that the price of methane is the same price per kg regardless of source. This results in a much higher methane cost per unit of output for deer farmers. This combined with the facts that there are unlikely to be effective mitigation options (beyond reducing stock) for deer farmers in the near term, and many have limited sequestration options means the impact on Effective Farm Surplus could be significant for some farmers. This represents a critical viability risk for the deer sector and we need a system that supports otherwise viable farmers through to a point where there are viable mitigation options.
DINZ's submission
To view the Deer Industry New Zealand submission on Pricing Agricultural Emissions, click here >>
