Environmentalists are accusing the government of selling out over its deal with farmers.
Agriculture makes up nearly half of New Zealand's carbon emissions.
But under a new plan unveiled on Thursday, farmers won't have to start paying for them until 2025 - as long as each farm works to find ways to measure and price those emissions.
If farmers are not able to find suitable alternatives in that time, they can be forced into the Emissions Trading Scheme, where they will pay for just five percent of their emissions.
RNZ political editor, Jane Patterson, has the story.
