Simon Watts: Climate Change Minister on the decision to stop farming being charged through Emissions Trading Scheme

The Climate Change Minister says plans to reduce agricultural emissions must be balanced with maintaining New Zealand's production.

The Government plans to change the law in order to to stop farming being charged with credit offsets through the Emissions Trading Scheme.

It was the fallback plan if partnership group He Waka Eka Noa couldn't find an alternative way to charge agriculture.

He Waka Eke Noa will be replaced and Simon Watts says he's committed to pricing agricultural emissions by 2030.

"We want that to be industry and farmer-led, because our farmers are some of the most carbon-efficient farmers in the world."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ever dup Vllen Right.

Speaker 2 (00:02):
Good news for farmers on the eve of field Days.
They're not going to have to pay for their emissions.
The government has announced agriculture will not be included in
the emissions trading scheme and hair Walker ECINOI will be scrapped. Finally.
Simon Watts is the Minister for Climate Change and joins us.

Speaker 1 (00:15):
Now, Hey, Simon, Hey, Heather, thanks for having me.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Yeah, thanks for.

Speaker 1 (00:18):
Being with us.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
So you're taking them out of the emissions trading scheme,
but are you still expecting them to find some sort
of way to pay through some sort of other mechanism
for their emissions.

Speaker 1 (00:28):
Look, we're keeping our promise to farmers to take it
out of the ets, but we are going to be
working with a farming community around what are the viable
pathways for them to look to reduce emissions. And we're
still committed to buy twenty thirty to introduce some form
of emissions pricing, but is a long period between now
and then, But we want to work with the industry,
not against them, to make that a reality because this

(00:49):
is a really challenging area.

Speaker 2 (00:51):
You've scrapped Herewalker ECINOI. You've set up another working group
to replace it. What's the point of that working group?

Speaker 1 (00:57):
Look, the working group that we ablush is going to
have individuals and entities across the sector. Minister maclay from
Aggers is leading on that piece. But this is really
just a reset from us. The model that was set
up under the prior government was dead in the water.
It wasn't working, and we're reframing that. And we've got
a good relationship with the SECT now and we're working

(01:18):
progressively with them to do what we need to do.

Speaker 2 (01:20):
What are you hoping to get from the four hundred
million dollars that you're putting into R and D well.

Speaker 1 (01:25):
Look, the key element for us is to get pathways
that we can reduce agricultural emissions. Who want that to
be industry and farmer lad because our farmers are some
of the most carbon efficient farmers in the world, good
at innovation, and you know, I'm confident in our farmers
that we can find a pathway to not only reduce
emissions but also maintain our production because we also need

(01:46):
to export to the world. We've got to find the
balance between those two things and protect not only our
economy but also the resilience in the livelihoods of our
farmers as well, and the previous model was putting both
of those things that threat Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:58):
Too, right, hey, Simon, thank you very much. Call on
the decision Simon Watts, Minister of Climate Change.

Speaker 1 (02:03):
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