Govt urged to reduce ETS units
The Climate Change Commission wants the new Government to reduce NZ Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction volumes as son as possible.
Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy says the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment report highlights that this issue is not as simple as whether agriculture is in or out of the ETS.
It requires a broader discussion than that, he says.
“For example, planting the right trees, in the right place, at the right time can buy us time to find options to reduce biological emissions from agriculture.”
The Government is supporting these efforts through the Afforestation Grant Scheme, the Erosion Control Funding Programme and the Sustainable Land Management and Climate Change research programme.
“The Government is also investing $20 million a year in research into developing new mitigation options like a vaccine to reduce emissions from agriculture, which is a very promising long term option.”
Guy says agricultural emissions make up 49% of New Zealand’s gross emissions.
“Reducing them while growing our economy is a difficult challenge, but it’s one we must solve.
“For that reason we recently established the biological emissions reference group to work with the sector to state an objective and agreed understanding of what can be done to reduce agricultural emissions.”
The Commerce Commission says connectivity options for rural New Zealanders are front-of-mind as it begins a formal investigation into the future of the copper network.
Grand Finalists have been selected, all regional finals have concluded, and the journey towards the FMG Young Farmer of the Year Grand Final is underway.
Hopes of NZ sheepmeat prices picking up anytime soon in the country's key export market of China looks highly unlikely.
Regional councils are welcoming the certainty for councils in today’s Resource Management Act (RMA) announcement by the Government.
ASB says the decision to sign on to the AgriZeroNZ joint venture came out of a wish to be a part of the solution.
Federated Farmers says changes announced to the Resource Management Act today mark the end of the war on farming.
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