Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Farmers will be exposed to the uncertainty of the three-year political cycle by the government's decision to walk away from the bipartisan consensus on climate change, the Greens say.
The government is pushing through all three stages of a bill to weaken the 2050 methane emissions target under urgency in Parliament on Friday.
If passed, a required 24 to 47 percent reduction in methane from 2017 levels will be halved, to a 14 to 24 percent reduction.
In setting the lower target, the government rejected Climate Change Commission advice, arguing it would lower GDP in 2050 by 2.2 percent from what it otherwise would have been.
Instead, it followed the advice of a methane science review it commissioned, which found the lower target was consistent with a controversial principle of 'no additional warming'.
Methane - which is a short-lived gas but has a huge warming effect while it exists in the atmosphere - makes up roughly half of New Zealand's emissions. Most of it comes from farms, especially the burps and breaths of ruminant animals like cows and sheep.
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts said the government was supporting farmers and economic growth.
"Farmers have been clear that they need a methane target that is realistic," he told Parliament.
"This bill reflects our belief that a thriving climate and thriving economy go hand in hand."
The government was supporting work on farms to reduce emissions, including investing in agricultrual methane-inhibiting technology via public-private partnership AgriZero.
New Zealand's international targets - including halving net greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 - were not changing, he said.
Green Party MP Francisco Hernandez said the legislation was "a betrayal of the farming community [National] purport to represent".
Farmers had been previously shielded by the bipartisanship forged when Parliament passed the Zero Carbon Act - which set New Zealand's original targets - with near-unanimous support in 2019, Hernandez said.
That would end when the amended target was passed either today or tomorrow.
"Every three years, the agricultural community will now have to face the rollercoaster experience of the chopping and changing of targets."
Green Party MP Francisco Hernandez said the legislation was "a betrayal of the farming community [National] purport to represent". Photo: VNP / Phil Smith
He criticised the government's decision to push through the change under urgency, with no public consultation or select committee scrutiny.
"They will not be able to complain when we use the same process."
Labour Party climate change spokesperson Deborah Russell said the government had chosen "a very curious day" to be pushing through the bill under urgency.
"It is 10 years to the day since John Key's National government signed up to the Paris Agreement, and here we are today, in this house, downgrading our methane target, valorising dubious science, and walking away from our commitments to reducing climate change."
Setting a lower target might be cheaper in the short-term, Russell said.
"But the costs will be borne by our children and our children's children."
Previous MPs, including from National, had worked hard together to get a bipartisan consensus on the original targets, she said.
"There was genuine consensus... and that party has walked away from it."
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