All agricultural and horticultural bodies have supported option two for emissions reductions for long-lived greenhouse gases and stabilisation for short-lived gases like methane.
The six-week public consultation, Our Climate Our Say, began in early June and has now closed so the Ministry for the Environment can collate the responses.
Climate Change Minister and Green Party Co-Leader James Shaw said most New Zealanders are in favour of action being taken and he is impressed by the number of business and farming leaders who shared a commitment to leading the change.
“People have told us they are already concerned about the damage they can see from climate change, the increase in storms and droughts and rising sea levels.
“Moving to a low-emissions economy will impact some communities more than others.
“Many people told us we will need to walk carefully through the 30-year transition.”
Shaw said there is a balance to be found between moving quickly enough to address climate change and not so quickly that parts of the economy will be put at risk.
Federated Farmers said it is important to have a road map to a low net emissions economy.
It supports a Zero Carbon Bill with reference to an emissions reduction target, emissions budgets and a Climate Change Commission.
Long-lived gases should be targeted for emissions reduction while the short-lived one are stabilised, the federation said.
But it sounded warnings about the possible impacts of net emissions targets at the expense of economic and social wellbeing.
“NZ should not lock itself into an inflexible approach that disadvantages us more than other nations,” climate change spokesman Andrew Hoggard said.
“In the decades to 2050 we will also be grappling with the major cost implications of an ageing population. We must have regard for the impact various net-zero options would have on emissions prices and on GDP, jobs and incomes.”
Agricultural exports are 64% of total merchandise exports plus several billions of dollars of food for domestic consumption.
Our unsubsidised and highly efficient agriculture sector is highly exposed to competition from moderate to highly subsidised producers in other nations.
Having worked hard to remove trade barriers it would be counter-productive for future governments to impose costs on NZ producers that would undermine those trade gains.
Potentially, the loss of food production here could be taken up by much less emissions-efficient producers overseas not facing the same costs.
“The net result of that would only worsen climate change,” Hoggard said.
Federated Farmers continues to take the position that agricultural biological emissions (methane and nitrous oxide) should not come into the Emissions Trading Scheme or other policy mechanism until cost-effective litigation technologies are available to farmers and international trading partners and competitors are tackling their agricultural biological emissions.
Finally, if those gases were included in the ETS then any revenue should be recycled back into the agriculture sector for research and on-farm initiatives to help farmers and growers reduce their net emissions.
DairyNZ supported emissions targets for 2050 with five-yearly budgets to help provide certainty for agriculture and said option two is the logical approach.
“DairyNZ agrees with scientific experts that if methane is stabilised at a specific level it will not cause any additional warming, unlike carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide which build up in the atmosphere for hundreds of years,” chairman Jim van der Poel said.
“Any decision made about which level of methane stabilisation is most achievable and appropriate will include a robust and science-based analysis by government, scientists and industry.
“DairyNZ intends to help provide scientific evidence and be fully involved in such discussions.”
The horticulture industry said it supports the concept of a Zero Carbon Bill with a 2050 target provided there are viable alternative production systems and technology developed within that timeframe.
Horticulture NZ chief executive Mike Chapman said the industry is concerned about the impacts of the various net zero options on emissions prices and on GDP, jobs, incomes and the health of New Zealanders.
Most growers are small to medium-sized businesses so extra costs could have a dramatic effect on their ability to remain profitable.
It recommended NZ meet its targets by a combination of new forests and horticultural planting, including vines and shelter belts, and the use of international carbon units with strong environmental safeguards.
National’s climate change spokesman Todd Muller said the opposition is committed to pursuing meaningful bipartisan progress but not to lead the world in responses.
“It is important that our ambition moves at a pace that doesn’t leave our communities and businesses behind.
“As the true costs of the transition to a low-carbon economy coalesce for communities, whether that be through higher food costs, increased petrol prices or a slowing of the economy, we should not lose sight of the fact that our country makes up less than one-fifth of 1% of global emissions.”
