The New Zealand government’s controversial plan to tax greenhouse gas emissions through livestock burps and farts still isn’t going down well with farmers, despite several changes.
New Zealand intends to set up the first tax on methane and nitrous oxide emissions in the world, to control the environmental footprint of its six million cows and 26 million sheep.
Methane is less abundant and does not last as long in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, but it is a much more powerful factor in climate change.
This chemical compound is responsible for around 30% of global warming since the Industrial Revolution, scientists estimate, although it only accounts for a fraction of the composition of the greenhouse gas.
According to the first version of this plan, farmers will have to pay according to the emissions of their animals, which sent New Zealand’s farming community into a frenzy and sparked protests in late October.
The farmers had simply asked the Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, to abandon this tax, pointing to the risk of an increase in food prices.
One of the changes made by the government on Wednesday includes the possibility of offsetting animal carbon emissions by developing forestry on farms, in order to take advantage of a low tax.
“Our common goal is to help farmers export more, reduce their emissions and ensure that our agricultural sector remains internationally competitive,” Ardern said in a statement.
“New Zealand is the only one opting for a punitive response,” New Zealand Farmers Federation president Andrew Hoggard criticized in a statement, adding that agricultural production was an “efficient” and “non-profit” sector. subsidized”.
He also accused the government of making “vague promises”, despite Jacinda Ardern’s desire to put in place “a sustainable emissions reduction system”.