Climate Politics
New Zealand to Tax Agriculture Emissions at the Farm in World First
- Proposal includes funding for R&D to lower on-farm emissions
- Farmers fear it will drive up costs, force people off the land
Dairy cows graze at a farm in Hamilton, New Zealand.
Photographer: Brendon O'Hagan/Bloomberg
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New Zealand farmers will start to pay a levy on agricultural emissions by 2025 -- a move Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said would be a world first.
The government will adopt the main recommendation from the He Waka Eke Noa primary sector climate action partnership to price the emissions at the farm level rather than including them in the nation’s emissions trading scheme, Ardern said Tuesday in Wellington. The system will be in place by 2025, requiring farmers to start paying a regulated price for their methane, carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide emissions.