ARABLE
Greenhouse gas emissions: pricing for arable Climate change, greenhouse gas emissions and carbon taxes have been in and out of the news for decades. But as the discussions are often highly politicised and the language extremely scientific, many New Zealanders have found it easier to dismiss them as ‘theoretical’ or ‘future problems’. Unfortunately, they are not; they are real and they are here now. WORDS BY ANNA HESLOP, FAR
60
R E AL FARM E R
New Zealand is committed to emissions reductions, and from 2025 our primary sector businesses will face payments on the amount of GHGs they release. Given that short time frame, it’s time all farmers begin to understand how this payment is likely to be calculated. So when will that information be available?
• More detail, including modelling and case studies showing how much each approach might cost different farm systems, will be shared in February 2022; • In April 2022, He Waka Eke Noa will provide a recommended pricing option to government.
Here’s where things are at as of November 2021: • He Waka Eke Noa* has developed preliminary information on the two pricing options under consideration, and the “backstop” of the ETS at the processor level;
What are the pricing options? The two pricing options being considered are a farm-level levy and a processor-level hybrid levy. The third, default option is the ‘backstop’ of Agriculture in the Emissions Trading
