Act Party MP Mark Cameron’s member’s bill that would prevent regional councils from regulating greenhouse gas emissions is a smart step for climate change policy, Federated Farmers say.
“With farmers and others keenly interested in stamping out unnecessary red tape and duplication, this represents a return to sensible legislation,” the organisation’s RMA reform spokesperson Mark Hooper says.
“Greenhouse gas emissions are a global rather than local challenge. It has never made sense for local councils to individually regulate emissions.”
New Zealand already has a number of national policies and targets governing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, so any local policy would just mean unnecessary duplication and confusion, Hooper says.
“If councils create different rules for their region, it’s sending mixed messages.
“It’s duplicating what central government is already doing and, worse, has the potential to create huge headaches for farmers and others,” Hooper says.
“We had legislation that ensured national consistency on GHGs; it shouldn’t have been tinkered with.”
Hooper says Cameron’s Amendment Bill, announced earlier this month, will largely reinstate changes made in 2004 that were then repealed in 2020 by the previous Government.
Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC) has proposed a target of a 50% reduction in all GHG emissions by 2030, including biogenic methane.
“This diverges from the central government targets that treat short-lived biogenic methane differently to long-lived carbon dioxide,” Hooper says.
“For Wairarapa farmers, who sit inside the GWRC’s boundaries, this means a resource consent application could set conditions that require farmers to reduce emissions in line with the 50% target.
“It raises questions for all resource consent applications. For example, could a new road or house fail a resource consent application if it wasn’t viewed as consistent with a 50% reduction?”
Hooper says none of this makes any sense when carbon dioxide emissions are already captured under the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).
Different parts of the country have varying opportunities for mitigating emissions or sequestering carbon, and the ETS efficiently caters for this, he says.
“Preventing activities that emit carbon dioxide in Wellington will simply mean more of the ETS cap is available for other regions,” Hooper says.
“While agricultural emissions aren’t in the ETS, this is for good reason. Economic modelling showed it would reduce sheep and beef production by over 20% by 2030, for a much less ambitious target.”
With 39% of the Wellington region’s greenhouse gas emissions coming from agriculture, achieving a 50% reduction in regional emissions in just over five years’ time could mean huge conversion of farmland to forestry, Hooper says.
“The council is flying blind, having not done any economic modelling to understand this,” Hooper says.
“Wellington is just the first example of where this can go. Gisborne District Council is also discussing a climate change roadmap to 2050, which includes guidance on how the council will reduce emissions.
“Mark Cameron’s bill is sensible policy that reinstates law supported by both the Clark and Key Governments for 16 years. It deserves cross-party support.”
The explanatory note to Cameron’s bill says the fragmentation of authority to put in place binding standards on GHG cuts can lead to different rules in different regions, “creating confusion and uncertainty.
“Rural communities are particularly likely to be significantly affected by regional-focused interventions,” the note says.
“This inconsistency can result in increased compliance costs, hinder long-term investment in sustainable practices, and ultimately place a disproportionate burden on the agricultural sector.
“Centralised decision-making ensures a unified approach to climate change, allowing development of cohesive strategies.”
Hooper says the argument is the same that Federated Farmers puts in relation to management of genetically modified organisms.
“Current legislation around GMOs, unfortunately, enables regional and district councils to undermine or override decisions made by central government agencies, such as the Environmental Protection Agency.
“There is a role for councils on climate change, which is consulting their residents and making provision in their district plan for how their community will adapt to predicted sea level rise and more frequent storms.
“That is a local prerogative and task.
“Setting emission-reduction rules requires a broader perspective and resources, which is best left to central government.”
Federated Farmers, New Zealand’s leading independent rural advocacy organisation, has established a news and insights partnership with AgriHQ, the country’s leading rural publisher, to give the farmers of New Zealand a more informed, united and stronger voice. Federated Farmers news and commentary appears each week in its own section of the Farmers Weekly print edition and online.
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