Feds Call For NZ To Follow Danish Lead On ETS
April 6th, 2009
Denmark is showing the way for NZ to follow on emissions trading by ditching its proposed tax on farm animal emissions. FedFarmers’ Don Nicolson says the Danish Tax Commission had proposed to levy $191.83 per cow but the levy has been thrown out by the Danish parliament with the support of all political parties due to its potential impact on the Danish dairy sector.
“The Danish Govt has grasped this reality by saying no and seeking a response to emissions without putting its agricultural sector to the sword. The time has come for National and Labour to bury the hatchet and reach a cross party consensus to the same end.” He says what Denmark is saying with this decision is the international competitiveness of food production is something countries need to secure in a world which sees at least 800m people living in food poverty.
He notes if such a levy was applied to the entire NZ dairy and beef herd, it would represent a net cost to the NZ agricultural industry of around $1.85bn, greater than NZ’s entire exports to the UK. If farm animal emissions are included in the emissions trading scheme, NZ products will be priced out of markets in favour of products produced by farming systems with higher carbon emissions. “This would turn the ETS into an efficiency transfer scheme and we would all be poorer for it while seeing global emissions increase.”
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