Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Andrew Hoggard: Associate Minister for Agriculture on possible new methane targets

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Andrew Hoggard: Associate Minister for Agriculture on possible new methane targets · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: So our methane emissions targets may be lowered. A government
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  Speaker 1: appointed scientific panel has found by reducing our twenty to
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: fifty methane emissions targets, we could still meet the goal
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: of not seeing additional warming above twenty seventeen levels. The
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  Speaker 1: Climate Change Commission has warned that there is no evidence
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  Speaker 1: to support changing the existing target of up to forty
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: seven percent. The government is now going over the panel's
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  Speaker 1: advice to decide on a new target from next year.
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  Speaker 1: Andrew Hoggart is the Associate Minister for Agriculture. He's with
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  Speaker 1: me this morning, Andrew, Good morning, Good morning, right, could
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  Speaker 1: have you on the show? Minister? Tell me are you
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  Speaker 1: Are you basically saying you will love the targets.
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  Speaker 2: No, this is just the scientific advice that we've received
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  Speaker 2: and decisions will be made next year. We know from
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  Speaker 2: my previous role my thoughts coredy and where the targets
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  Speaker 2: should be. So yeah, this is just scientific advice to
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  Speaker 2: inform the policy decision that government will be making.
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  Speaker 1: Do you concede that it's not as good for the
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  Speaker 1: planet but it's better for farmers?
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  Speaker 2: Well, no, I mean what the science is saying here
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  Speaker 2: is that no additional warming means that no additional warming. Basically,
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  Speaker 2: the farming sector needs to reduce on what the world's
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  Speaker 2: currently doing by fifteen percent, or if everyone else in
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  Speaker 2: the world steps up, then we have to move up
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  Speaker 2: to twenty four percent. But that's the sort of information
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  Speaker 2: it's come back from this report, and you know, I
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  Speaker 2: would think that our farmer is doing our part, not
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  Speaker 2: adding to additional warming is what they want to be doing.
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  Speaker 2: You know, parents A cords all about limiting additional warming
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  Speaker 2: from one point five, we're saying for New Zealand agriculture,
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  Speaker 2: what's the number for zero?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah? This is the difference though, isn't it. It's the
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  Speaker 1: expectation that the sort of parameters that have been set
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  Speaker 1: for this, because it's about not exceeding twenty seventeen levels
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  Speaker 1: versus the current targets, which are more about calling the planet.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I mean, well no, the current targets are about
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  Speaker 2: stopping warming to one and a half an extra one
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  Speaker 2: and a half degrees, and so we're saying, in effect,
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  Speaker 2: we're not going to add to that at all? Is
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  Speaker 2: what this you know, this question is in a haus
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  Speaker 2: water is the number farmers need to achieved to say
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  Speaker 2: that Hey, we haven't added to the problem.
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  Speaker 1: You know, the farm land use changes that you've announced,
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  Speaker 1: do you basely are you basically saying to farmers you
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  Speaker 1: can do what you want with your land, but don't
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  Speaker 1: expect carbon credits if it's productive farming land.
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  Speaker 2: That's pretty much in a nutshell.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, two hundred thousand hectares of productive sheep and beef
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  Speaker 1: we're converted in the past five years. Do you have
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  Speaker 1: an idea of what this change might mean for that
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  Speaker 1: number going forward?
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  Speaker 2: Well, obviously it'll reduce it. Then in terms of the
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  Speaker 2: exact number, No, I wouldn't have that off the top
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  Speaker 2: of my head, but it would sort of. You know,
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  Speaker 2: what we've seen has been that the main driver for
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  Speaker 2: a forestation has been the carbon price, and that's what's
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  Speaker 2: driven a lot of their sales and changes of blanket
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  Speaker 2: planting of farmland into forestry. And that's what's occurred. For
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  Speaker 2: a number of years now. We've been hearing from those
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  Speaker 2: real communities massive concern about going to the land effectively
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  Speaker 2: into carbon forestry where there's no jobs, it's locked up
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  Speaker 2: and becomes a bit of a fire risk and real
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  Speaker 2: concern to their community.
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  Speaker 1: Minister, just putting your biosecurity head on for a second.
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  Speaker 1: What's the latest do you have testing results from that
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  Speaker 1: second Dunedin farm that was being looked.
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  Speaker 2: At no When I wake up, I checked my phone
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  Speaker 2: and there was nothing came through overnight, So it should
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  Speaker 2: be at some point this morning we'll get the update
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  Speaker 2: on all those other farms, which will give us a
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  Speaker 2: real indication as to what spread is and how quickly
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  Speaker 2: we can tidy this.
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  Speaker 1: Up if it's confirmed, like if it's if it's there,
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  Speaker 1: is that really bad?
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  Speaker 2: It'll depend on whether or not there's So this is
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  Speaker 2: the Seeking farm south of Dnean. The question in my
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  Speaker 2: mind will be do we have a trace between those
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  Speaker 2: two properties? Is there a link between them? How if
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  Speaker 2: we can't find a link between them? And also there
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  Speaker 2: is some difference in the sequencing in terms of the
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  Speaker 2: na of the disease. That then adds another variable to
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  Speaker 2: the resk of is there something in the natural environment
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  Speaker 2: that's causing this?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, and good to know. Andrew Haggard, thank you
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  Speaker 1: very much for your time this morning. Really appreciate it.
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: The Associate Minister for Agriculture there on a range of issues.
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• 4:51
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• 4:54
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