ETS tax ‘nonsense’

“To simply take the New Zealand agriculture sector, which is the world’s most emissions efficient food producing sector, and say that the future for that sector is to tax it, before there’s an opportunity to apply technology that hasn’t appeared yet, I think is nonsense,” Muller told TVNZ’s Q+A programme.

Muller says agriculture should not be included in the ETS. “That particular proposal looks to sheet that cost back to the sector at a manufacturing level,” he explained. 

“The Interim Climate Committee itself said that if you actually wanted to drive change in an agricultural context you’d price emissions on farm, but that can’t be done at the moment.”

Muller says farmers don’t have the tools to be able to effectively measure their on farm emissions, and don’t have any tools to mitigate or reduce those on farm emissions. 

He has “total confidence” that technology will be developed to mitigate the effects of climate change in the agricultural sector.

“You first of all measure, then you can manage. You apply innovation then you can change. I have total confidence that this technology will appear.”