New Zealand

New Zealand joined the Climate & Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) in 2013 and is currently a lead partner in our Agriculture initiative. Not only is New Zealand committed to reducing short-lived climate pollutant emissions domestically, but it is also using its agricultural expertise to help address emissions from the sector globally.

Speaking at the 11th High Level Assembly of the CCAC in 2019, Hon Aupito William Sio, Minister for Pacific Peoples, described the CCAC as “well placed to work with Partners such as the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases, where New Zealand leads the Livestock Research Group, to coordinate and promote greater global action to reduce methane emissions. And the CCAC’s Agriculture Initiative can assist its Partners to set ambitious, but realistic targets for their agricultural emissions.”

In 2019, New Zealand passed the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Act, setting the targets of reducing net emissions of greenhouse gases (other than biogenic methane) to zero by 2050, as well as to reduce biogenic emissions to 10% below 2017 levels by 2030, and to 24-27% by 2050. Addressing agricultural emissions is key to New Zealand meeting their methane specific targets.

A primary industry action partnership, He Waka Eke Noa, was formed in 2019 with the aim of delivering a world-first scheme for the agriculture sector to measure, manage and price greenhouse gas emissions by 2025. The five-year action plan brings together industry, Māori, and Government partners to co-develop climate change knowledge, tools and support for New Zealand’s farmers and growers, including: improved tools for estimating and benchmarking farm emissions; increased farm advisory capacity and capability; and incentives for early adopters. The partnership is working towards fulfilling the Government’s commitment of mandatorily pricing emissions from agriculture by 2025. New Zealand is currently the only country developing policy that will impose a mandatory price incentive to reduce emissions across its livestock sector.

The New Zealand Government continues to invest in the research and development of mitigation technologies to reduce agricultural methane emissions and has an enduring commitment to sharing this knowledge internationally. This occurs through a number of research alliances and partnerships, including the New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre (NZAGRC), which has been a CCAC actor since 2013. Working jointly with the Pastoral Greenhouse Gas Research Consortium (PGgRc), NZAGRC’s methane mitigation programme aims to reduce emissions through breeding programmes and by targeting methane-producing bacteria through the development of inhibitors and vaccines.

New Zealand is involved in a number of projects that aim to help developing countries build their ability to mitigate against greenhouse gas emissions from pastoral livestock agriculture. In 2017/18 the New Zealand Aid Programme (NZAID) invested NZ$25.06 million on climate-related agricultural initiatives. New Zealand also hosts the Secretariat and Special Representative of the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases (GRA) and co-chairs the Livestock Research Group with Ireland and the United Kingdom. Since its inception in 2009, New Zealand has committed NZ$122.5.5 million to support the GRA. Through the GRA, New Zealand is involved in mitigation research and technology transfer projects in Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Southern and Eastern Africa.

Having ratified the Kigali Amendment of the Montreal Protocol in 2019, New Zealand has taken action to address HFCs. Measures to accelerate HFC phasedown include the introduction of a permitting system for the import and export of bulk HFCs, as well as an amendment to the Emissions Trading Scheme (NZ ETS). It is expected that by 2036, HFC consumption will be 85% less than in 2020.

Read below for more highlights of New Zealand’s agriculture work.