Download Climate Change Consultation Contribution

3 June 2015
TO:
Ministry for the Environment
ON:
Climate Change Consultation
Contribution
BY:
Beef + Lamb New Zealand Ltd
B+LNZ submission on Climate Change Consultation Contribution June 2015
Introduction
1.
Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ)
1.1
B+LNZ is an industry-good body funded under the Commodity Levies Act through a levy paid
by producers on all cattle and sheep slaughtered in New Zealand. Its mission is to deliver
innovative tools and services to support informed decision making and continuous
improvement in farming systems, market access and product positioning.
1.2
B+LNZ is actively engaged in environmental issues that affect the pastoral production sector.
1.3
B+LNZ represents sheep and beef farmers in New Zealand.
Submission
2.
Background
2.1
Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ) welcomes the opportunity to make a submission on New
Zealand’s Post-2020 Emissions Target.
2.2
Sheep and beef farmers recognise the need for their farming operations and land
management to be environmentally friendly and are acting to reduce their environmental
footprint, including Greenhouse Gases emissions. New Zealand farmers consider themselves
to be stewards of the land for future generations and like all New Zealanders, wish to enjoy
their environment and strive to farm in the most sustainable manner possible by managing
New Zealand’s air, soil and water resources.
2.3
New Zealand’s pastoral production system draws upon a long heritage in farming and is
recognised throughout the world as utilising our natural advantages of water, soil, sunshine
and grass. New Zealand pastoral agriculture has forged an international reputation for our
productivity, innovation in and adoption of research and technology, and use of sustainable
pasture-based production systems over the last 100 years. It is important that we continue to
uphold this through utilising and applying the best technology and farming practices that
further advance New Zealand’s natural advantages in biological systems and food production.
2.4
They recognise that New Zealand has committed to reducing its GHG emissions to 5% below
1990 levels by 2020 and is working towards a new post-2020 international agreement that will
commit New Zealand to future emissions reductions.
2.5
B+LNZ and its farmers recognise there is a need to negotiate a robust package of different
initiatives to address New Zealand’s contribution to the mitigation of, and adaption to, climate
change. The development of an Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) is an
important starting point for New Zealand as negotiations commence. Ultimately the negotiated
package needs to balance scientific, economic, environmental and international relationships,
and the final post-2020 target will also need to reflect these elements.
3.
Sector Profile
3.1
Amongst Annex 1 countries, New Zealand is unique in being a small contributor in absolute
terms and the only ‘developed’ nation that has 46 per cent of its GHG inventory resulting from
agricultural emissions. While agricultural emissions are high as a percentage of New
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B+LNZ submission on Climate Change Consultation Contribution June 2015
Zealand’s total emissions, and New Zealand’s emissions appear high when expressed as per
head of population or per capita income (17.6 tCo2-e), this does not take into account the fact
that the primary products such as meat and dairy, to which those emissions relate is largely
consumed overseas, or the emissions efficiency of that food production compared with other
countries. New Zealand is one of the most emissions efficient producers of livestock products.
3.2
Sheep and beef farmers reduced their absolute Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions by 19 per
cent and their emissions per kilogram of product by 23% between 1990 and 2013 through
improved efficiency gains such as better lambing percentages and lamb growth rates. Sheep
numbers have reduced from 57.8 million in 1990 to 30.8 million in 2013 whilst still maintaining
similar production levels.
3.3
This corresponds to a reduction of about 1.0 percent per year since 1990 and amounts to a
reduction of 4.12 million tonnes of carbon equivalent per year while total meat production has
increased 5 per cent over the same period to 1.19 million tonnes. The sheep and beef sector
now contribute 28 per cent of New Zealand’s total emissions but will continue to improve GHG
emissions efficiency and overall productivity through investment in new innovation, science
and technology.
30.0000
Emissions intensity kgCO2eq/kg meat
25.0000
20.0000
Beef
intensity
15.0000
Sheep
intensity
10.0000
intensity
5.0000
0.0000
1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012
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B+LNZ submission on Climate Change Consultation Contribution June 2015
Absolute Emissions CO2-et/yr
25000000
CO2-et/yr
20000000
15000000
10000000
GHG Beef
(CO2-et/yr)
GHG Sheep
(CO2-et/yr)
5000000
0
GHG
Beef+Sheep
(CO2-et/yr)
3.4
Agriculture additionally contributes to the reduction in GHGs emissions and to the meeting of
the New Zealand’s 2020 target through the application of the domestic ETS to on farm use of
energy and fuel. Only livestock emissions are currently excluded from the ETS.
4.
Mitigation Potential
4.1
B+LNZ believes that targets for agricultural emissions should not assume the future adoption
of as yet unproven technologies. Whilst there are a number of technologies that look
promising in their ability to reduce GHG emissions in certain classes of livestock, these are far
from being ready to be used on-farm.
4.2
Significant barriers exist before these technologies can be applied on-farm, and many may
prove to be insurmountable, when it comes to application under field conditions. These
include:
•
Successful field application of laboratory results, over a range of environments,
climates and seasons
•
Persistence of the mitigation. Some mitigations have proven to be transitory, lasting
only a very short time, making application in extensive pastoral systems for sheep
and beef cattle unsuccessful.
•
Any mitigation that involves chemicals or additives of any sort must be cleared for use
in the food chain, involving not only domestic regulatory approvals, but also through
the international CODEX regulatory process. Examples to date include the withdrawal
of the very effective nitrous oxide reducing product DCD following residues being
detected in the food chain, for which there are no recognised limits either domestically
or internationally, rather than there being any risk associated with the product’s use.
•
New products and trials of new products must negotiate the labyrinthine processes of
the Environmental Protection Agency and the HSNO Act. This can take many months
or even years, even for low risk activities or products.
•
New products or techniques must first be extensively tested to determine that there
are no adverse side-effects.
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B+LNZ submission on Climate Change Consultation Contribution June 2015
•
New management techniques must be tested to determine if there are other impacts
of concern, for example, feeding of some methane and nitrous oxide reducing forages
is likely to adversely affect water quality and soil structure.
•
Animal welfare must also be considered in the development of new products or
management techniques, for trials and for long term application.
•
New Zealand’s small market place means that costs of development and
commercialisation may be too high to make products economic to produce and
market.
4.3
Many promising products and techniques are developed in testing, but very few of them
survive the journey to market. Current estimates are that it will be at least 10 years and
probably longer, before any of the promising leads currently being researched will become
available for use on farm.
4.4
Once there are practical mitigations available, that are cost effective and efficient, do not have
unintended consequences, and are acceptable within regulatory frameworks and in the
market place, then New Zealand farmers and farmers world-wide will be able to actively
contribute to the reduction of GHGs. But until that time it is unreasonable to expect the sector
to reduce emissions significantly, as this will only be able to be achieved through reductions in
animal numbers and products.
5.
Sector Initiatives
5.1
While there are a few tools available to the sector, this should not be taken as the sector
being inactive in this area. Considerable financial investment has been made into research
and development of tools internationally and domestically, to assist in the reduction of
biological emissions.
On- farm practice:
What’s changed between
1990 and 2012?
Beef
• More finishing cattle and
reduction in breeding
cow herd.
• Increased use of dairy
origin livestock for beef
finishing.
• Better feeding and
management of animals.
Sheep
• Increased genetic
merit of sheep for
growth and
reproduction, and
increased use of
pregnancy scanning.
• Increased hogget
mating
• Improved pasture
production quality,
resulting in faster
growth.
• Optimised stocking
rate to fit pasture
Effect
on
productivity
farm
• Faster growth rates,
increased weight of
finished animals and
of kg meat/ha.
•
•
•
Increased lamb
weights at
slaughter
Increased kg
meat/ha
Increased lambing
percentage; greater
number of offspring
per ewe carried.
Net effect on emissions
intensity
•
Greater proportion
of feed going into
meat production,
rather than
maintenance.
•
Reduced ewe
population needed
to produce
equivalent amount
of lamb meat at
slaughter.
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B+LNZ submission on Climate Change Consultation Contribution June 2015
growth.
5.2
B+LNZ helps fund:
The Pastoral Greenhouse Gas Research Consortium ( PGgRC) to develop a range of
mitigation options some of which are showing promising results. These include:
•
Breeding low-CH4 emitting ruminants
•
Identifying low-GHG feeds
•
Developing a vaccine to reduce ruminant CH4 emissions
•
Identifying inhibitors that reduce ruminant CH4 emissions
•
Extension and enabling technologies.
A Primary Growth Partnership (PGP) project Managing GHG Emissions is underway, aiming
to develop:
• A network of certified GHG consultants;
• An accurate and verifiable tool for accounting GHG reductions. This project is still in
the early stages;
• A framework to support farmers to understanding their GHG emissions and options
for GHG mitigation while meeting other farm business objectives.
5.3
In addition, wider agricultural industry science and technology programmes have co-benefits
for GHG emissions reductions:
•
The Pastoral 21 II project aims to implement new farm systems integrating proven
component concepts to increase profitability from production while reducing the
environmental footprint. Analysis of the results has shown there is a positive
relationship between reducing N-leaching and reducing on farm nitrous oxide
emissions.
•
B+LNZ has continued rolling out its land and environment plans (LEPs) to sheep and
beef farmers. Over the past year more than 600 farmers have attended LEP
workshops.
•
During 2012-13 B+LNZ ran 33 workshops and 11 hui throughout New Zealand on
climate change technology transfer for sheep and beef farmers.
5.4
B+LNZ is also involved in global sustainability initiatives such as the Global Research Alliance
on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases, the Meat Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) pilot,
and the Livestock Environmental Assessment and Performance (LEAP) Partnership.
5.5
Life Cycle Analyses have been completed for both lamb and beef in New Zealand to establish
their carbon footprint. A Life Cycle Analysis for a water footprint has also been completed.
6.
Emissions Leakage
6.1
Given that global demand for animal proteins will continue to grow, any New Zealand
commitments that reduce agricultural production in this country will undoubtedly result in that
production moving to other, less emissions efficient countries.
6.2
If that overseas production is more emissions intensive than New Zealand agriculture then
bold commitments to ambitious targets for New Zealand (whether or not they are achieved)
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B+LNZ submission on Climate Change Consultation Contribution June 2015
will have come at a great cost not only to New Zealanders’ standards of living, but also to the
effort to reduce global emissions.
6.3
If it has a genuine ambition to mitigate climate change, then New Zealand should not accept
any policy that will predictably result in the relocation of emissions intensive industries such as
agriculture to overseas jurisdictions where they will not be regulated.
7.
Sector Contribution to Meeting New Zealand’s 2020
target and Beyond
7.1
Climate change policy measures introduced internationally need to be realistic about a
comprehensive international response to food production related emissions and the
timeframes over which such a response might occur.
7.2
When negotiating international measures, New Zealand cannot ignore its unique emissions
profile, including the economic reliance on exporting food and the already high proportion of
energy production that is renewable. Policies and targets that might produce reasonable
emissions reductions at reasonable cost in other developed economies, could, if applied in
New Zealand have both a negative effect on global emissions and an intolerable economic
cost.
7.3
Given the variability of emissions profiles between countries, demands for similar emissions
reduction targets should be paired with a requirement for parity in the costs of emissions
reduction. By taking this approach New Zealand can more easily ensure that it is doing its fair
share – but in its own way.
7.4
The sector believes the New Zealand Government should work towards a new international
climate change agreement for post-2020 that provides for the unique characteristics of New
Zealand’s emissions profile through separate treatment of GHG emissions from biological
systems and food production. A case for securing alternative treatment of agricultural
emissions is established and/or supported by:
•
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change which established the
principles on which climate efforts and actions are to be based, and which explicitly
recognises the importance of food production. Article 2 stressed that stabilisation of
atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases should be “achieved within a
timeframe sufficient to allow ecosystems to adapt naturally to climate change, to
ensure that food production is not threatened, and enable economic development in a
sustainable manner”;
•
The need for affordable and nutritious food production to expand significantly to
support the expanding global population. The global population is forecast to rise to 9
billion people by 2050. Estimates are that global food production will need to increase
by 60% by 2050 to meet demand. Increased food production should occur in the most
emissions efficient systems, in order to ensure a global reduction in GHGs.
•
The desirability and equity of developing countries taking on emissions reduction
commitments or actions to a far greater degree given the central role agriculture plays
in their national inventories and economies. The World Economic Forum states,
‘significant benefits can come from switching agricultural production to more carbon
efficient locations. The potential abatement of carbon dioxide equivalent was found to
be 178 million tons if the location of agriculture is optimised’. As sheep and beef
farming in New Zealand operates very efficiently, optimising location means more
production in New Zealand over the longer term and definitely not incentives to
decrease production;
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B+LNZ submission on Climate Change Consultation Contribution June 2015
•
The linkage between increased agricultural productivity in regions with comparative
environmental efficiency for agricultural production and decreasing pressure on
deforestation to meet food demand.
7.5
New Zealand should also know the rules before final post-2020 targets are set, this can be
accommodated in the conditionality rules attached to the post-2020 target. This is especially
important when rules related to Land Use and Land Use Change from Deforestation have
such a significant effect on New Zealand’s future net emissions. There is a strong likelihood
that these rules will have a direct effect on the agricultural sectors.
7.6
There is a case for New Zealand to take a lead on securing alternative treatment to
agricultural emissions internationally. This is in the best interests of not only New Zealand but
all other countries if agricultural emissions are to be reduced from the food production sectors
over the longer-term. New Zealand’s post-2020 target, negotiating platform and agreed end
package needs to reflect this if we are to make a real contribution to agricultural emissions
mitigation and reducing global carbon emissions.
7.7
B+LNZ believes that the adoption of an absolute emissions target for New Zealand that
excludes livestock emissions and a commitment to develop an alternative policy framework
detailing how agriculture will be treated at a later date, but no later than 2020 is required and
includes:
•
developed countries make comparable efforts to those of New Zealand;
•
advanced and major emitting developing countries take action fully commensurate
with their respective capabilities;
•
there is an effective set of rules for land use, land-use change and forestry
(LULUCF); and
•
there is access to trading of international carbon units.
Contact
For any queries relating to this submission please contact:
Victoria Lamb
Senior Environmental Policy Advisor
Beef + Lamb New Zealand
[email protected]
Tel: 04 474 0806
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