NZ farmers to face livestock emissions tax under new plan
(CNN) – A burp or fart at the dinner table might land you in trouble – but if you’re a cow or sheep in New Zealand, it might land your owner a hefty tax bill.
Prime Minister Jacinda Arden confirmed at a press conference on Tuesday that her government will push ahead with a proposal to make farmers pay for their livestock’s emissions in a bid to combat climate change.
“This is an important step forward in New Zealand’s transition to a low emissions future and delivers on our promise to price agriculture emissions from 2025,” Ardern said.
New Zealand is a major livestock and meat exporter, and has around 10 million cattle and 26 million sheep. Agricultural accounts for half of the country’s total emissions, including 91% of its biogenic emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas with more than 80 times the global warming power of carbon dioxide in the short term.
“No other country in the world has yet developed a system for pricing and reducing agricultural emissions, so our farmers are set to benefit from being first movers,” Ardern said.
Andrew Hoggard, president of the rural advocacy agency Federated Farmers, said in a statement that the government’s plan will “rip the guts out of small town New Zealand.”
“We didn’t sign up for this. It’s gut-wrenching to think we now have this proposal from government which rips the heart out of the work we did. Out of the families who farm this land,” he said. “Our plan was to keep farmers farming. Now they’ll be selling up so fast you won’t even hear the dogs barking on the back of the ute as they drive off.”
By CNN
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