Rural groups generally wanted the Climate Change Commission (CCC) to pull back on some of its recommendations to the Government on New Zealand’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions targets, while many in urban areas thought the targets were not ambitious enough.
The commission received more than 15,400 submissions on the draft advice it released in February, with less than 40 made in hard copy format.
About 900 of the total number of submissions, which were recently made public, were from organisations, with just under 40 from iwi/Māori and the remainder from individuals.
Four organisations provided template submissions sent to the commission’s email address, with members of those groups sending in templated submissions multiple times.
They were the Green Party (1276 submissions), Forest and Bird (3038), Safe (65) and the Taxpayers Union (6197).
DairyNZ’s submission said that it was committed to dairy farming playing its part in transitioning to a low-emissions economy, alongside the rest of NZ, but it was concerned that the commission’s proposed draft carbon budgets shifted the goalposts for farmers.
“The draft carbon budgets increase the level of reduction required beyond that contained in the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Act,” its submission said.
“We do not consider this is justified based on the mandate, nor the science, economic or farm systems assessments.”
Beef + Lamb NZ (B+LNZ) agreed.
Its submission said the commission’s recommendation that the Government implement measures that would lead to a 13.2% reduction of biogenic methane emissions on 2017 levels, which it did not support.
“This represents a 32% increase in the level of ambition compared to the 2030 biogenic methane target contained in the Zero Carbon Act, which is to reduce methane emissions to 10% below 2017 levels by 2030,” B+LNZ said in its submission.
“This proposed shift in the goal posts is not acceptable, particularly at a time when the agriculture sector is consolidating its actions to reduce emissions through processes such as He Waka Eke Noa.”
In contrast, the Auckland-based NZ Climate Change Action Network (NZCCAN) submitted that the commission’s draft recommendations, if implemented, would be a major step forward from NZ’s response to climate change so far, but it said the recommendations were not strong enough.
Its submission said the commission’s targets for biogenic methane reductions are in keeping with the Climate Change Response Amendment Act’s 2030 targets but the Act’s 2050 target is much more challenging.
“There are various steps that could be taken, starting immediately, to reduce these emissions, probably at a significantly faster rate than has been budgeted for in the (commission’s) draft advice report,” NZCCAN said.
“We recommend that these possible steps be further reviewed and the appropriate ones taken to gain a faster reduction in emissions.”
Opinions were also split across councils.
The Hurunui District Council submitted that focusing on a percentage in emissions reduction per sector is not an equitable approach.
“It is a red herring to argue that agriculture is 48% of our carbon equivalent emissions – of course it is, it is our biggest economic activity (bearing in mind carbon emissions from international air travel are not counted),” the council said.
“As we shift to renewable energy sources and decarbonise transport, agriculture is likely to become a larger percentage of our emissions. Something will always be 48% of our emissions – it is not the percentage which is important but the gross number that agriculture or another activity forms 48% of.”
The neighbouring Waimakariri District Council said that it does not support the package of actions for agriculture as they are too general and boil down to platitudes about improving on-farm efficiency, development of new technologies and creating options for alternative farming practices.
It said a more concrete and realistic pathway is required to assist the agriculture sector if it is to achieve biogenic methane reductions of 10% below 2017 levels by 2030, and between 24% and 47% by 2050.
Auckland Council said the proposed emissions budgets and recommendations represent a positive step towards reducing emissions, but it recommended more ambitious emissions budgets and recommendations to align with NZ delivering on its commitment to the Paris Agreement.
It said the emissions reductions targets for gross long-lived gases and biogenic methane were not ambitious enough.
The Government has until the end of the year to consider the commission’s advice and come up with its own plan.
