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Climate Change Minister James Shaw.
OPINION: Climate Change Minister James Shaw should gainfully spend his time in MIQ - following his attendance at the recent COP26 in Glasgow - getting his head around how to better promote NZ's world leading split gas approach.
He does not have to look too far for advice and guidance on the topic. Both Beef+Lamb NZ and DairyNZ have all the research and information that he needs.
A split gas approach highlights the difference between short and long-lived gases and their individual impact on warming. This approach takes into consideration the different durations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and their relative potency, to provide a more accurate and more easily understood picture of the complexities of the subject.
As a greenhouse gas, methane is 28 times more potent on a per kilogram basis than carbon dioxide. However, methane also has a far shorter half-life of 9-12 years versus 100-120 for CO2. This means short term reductions in methane emissions will have a faster long-term reduction in overall warming effect - so long as methane emission remains neutral, or reductions outstrip the rate at which it is added to the atmosphere.
Agriculture's methane emissions have stabilised in New Zealand, so they are not causing additional global warming. That means any reductions in our agricultural methane levels will not only needlessly handicap NZ's economy but also contribute to less warming.
Minister Shaw also needs to do more in dispelling the myth - promulgated by the likes of Greenpeace and other fanatics - that the Government is 'letting agriculture off the hook' in regard to climate emissions. The reality is that agriculture is the only sector in NZ with a proper emissions plan - the ridiculously named He Waka Eke Noa. This partnership made up of the primary sector, government and iwi, actually includes metrics which reduce ag emissions, not just 'mitigate' them by planting trees as other sectors are doing.
Critics also conveniently forget that NZ's sheep and beef sector has reduced its absolute emissions by more than 30% since 1990, while total methane emissions from all agriculture have been stable for the last decade.
Shaw missed a trick by not strongly advocating for split gas and an advanced metric like GWP* at Glasgow. Now he has a chance to rectify this for the betterment of both NZ and the planet.
OPINION: James Shaw is the last of the real Greens – a person who until the end has lived up to the ideals of the original NZ Green Party, which first entered Parliament in 1999 when one of its founders, Jeanette Fitzsimmons, historically won the Coromandel seat. Rod Donald and Mike Ward were the other key founding members.
Tributes from across the political divide flowed last week for James Shaw, the Green Party co-leader who has called time on his nine year political career.
Green Party co-leader James Shaw doesn’t believe the He Waka Eke Noa (HWEN) Climate Action Partnership proposal will work.
Green Party co-leader James Shaw has described the Ministry of Education’s decision to carpet 800 small and rural schools in synthetic carpets as “bonkers”.
New Zealand dairy farmers are set to be the first in the world to receive access to a new digital physical milk pricing tool that enables them to fix the price for their physical milk.
State farmer Pāmu is opening its farm gates this summer in an effort to give the rural sector the opportunity to see how large-scale, multi-system farming is delivering productivity and profitability across New Zealand.
A five-year study has found that the cost of reducing emissions without technology may be significant and unsustainable for Northland dairy farmers.
DairyNZ says Waikato farmers need certainty on Plan Change 1, but they say that certainty must be matched with practical, workable rules and a clear transition that doesn't get ahead of the new resource management system currently under review.
While the Government has moved quickly to make commercial hauliers' lot easier during the current fuel crisis, they appear to be stuck in the creep box when it comes to the agricultural industry.
Waikato farmers have been told that the Government’s new planning system legislation and the region’s Plan Change 1 (PC1) “won’t mesh together very well”.
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