New Zealand wants to tax burps to fight global warming

The New Zealand A plan to tax sheep and cattle that burps in an effort to tackle one of the country’s largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions. If the plan is carried out, then New Zealand It will be the first country to charge farmers for methane emissions from their animals.

The New Zealand Home to just over five million people. The country has about 10 million head of cattle and 26 million head of sheep.

Nearly half of the country’s total greenhouse gas emissions come from agriculture – most of it from methane.

However, agricultural emissions were not previously included in the . carbon trading scheme New Zealand. This has been criticized by those who have called on the government to do more to combat global warming.

“There is no doubt that we need to reduce the amount of methane we put into the atmosphere, and an effective emissions pricing system for agriculture will play a key role in how this is achieved.“, said the Minister of Climate Change in New ZealandJames Shaw.

According to the suggestion, Farmers will have to pay for their emissions from 2025. The plan also includes incentives for farmers to reduce emissions through food additives, and tree planting can be used on farms to offset emissions.

Andrew Hoggard, a dairy farmer and national president of the Farmers Union of New ZealandHe told the BBC he agreed with the proposals.

“We have been working with the government and other organizations on this for years to come up with a plan that does not harm agriculture in the country New Zealand. “

“But you know, like all these kinds of multilateral deals, there’s always going to be some frogs that you have to swallow,” he added.

Hoggard says details of the plan’s implementation have yet to be agreed.

The country’s environment ministry says the money raised from the tax will be invested in research, development and advisory services for farmers.

Last month, the Minister of Finance New Zealand He announced R$10 billion for initiatives against climate change, which will be funded through a carbon emissions trading system that taxes polluters.

Investors who manage $14 trillion in assets have urged the United Nations to come up with a global plan to make the agricultural sector sustainable.

In a letter to the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, which was released by Reuters, the FAIRR Initiative said the UN agency is well positioned to lead the development of a plan to contain one of the largest sources of harmful weather emissions.

Methane is the second most common greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide (CO2), and is responsible for one-third of the current warming attributed to human activities. Every molecule of methane has a stronger warming effect on the atmosphere than every molecule of carbon dioxide.

At last year’s COP26 environmental conference in Glasgow, the United States and the European Union agreed to cut gas emissions by 30% by 2030. More than 100 countries, including New Zealandalso joined the initiative.

How is methane released?

About 40% of methane comes from natural sources such as swamps, but most of it comes from a range of human activities such as agriculture, livestock, and even landfills..

One of its biggest sources is the production, transportation and use of natural gas. Since 2008, there has been a massive increase in methane emissions, which researchers believe is linked to the boom in activity known as hydraulic fracturing, in gas exploration in parts of the United States.

In 2019, atmospheric methane reached record levels, about two and a half times higher than the pre-industrial level.

What worries scientists is that methane is heating up the planet dramatically. Over a hundred years, it has warmed the planet 28 to 34 times faster than carbon dioxide.

Over the course of 20 years, they are about 84 times more powerful per unit mass of carbon dioxide. However, there is more carbon dioxide than methane in the atmosphere and individual carbon dioxide molecules can remain there for hundreds of years.