New Zealand’s government has unveiled plans to fight climate change by taxing sheep and cattle farts. In doing so, the country will become the firs nation to charge farmers for the methane emissions of their livestock.
According to the BBC:
New Zealand is home to just over five million people, along with around 10 million cattle and 26 million sheep.
Almost half the country’s total greenhouse gas emissions come from agriculture, mainly methane.
However, agricultural emissions have previously not been included in New Zealand’s emissions trading scheme, which has been criticised by those calling for the government to do more to stop global warming.
“There is no question that we need to cut the amount of methane we are putting into the atmosphere, and an effective emissions pricing system for agriculture will play a key part in how we achieve that,” New Zealand’s climate change minister James Shaw said.
Under the proposal farmers will have to pay for their gas emissions from 2025.
The plan also includes incentives for farmers who reduce emissions through feed additives, while planting trees on farms could be used to offset emissions.
Andrew Hoggard – who is a dairy farmer and the national president of Federated Farmers of New Zealand – told the BBC that he broadly approved of the proposals.
“We’ve been working with the government and other organisations on this for years to get an approach that won’t shut down farming in New Zealand, so we’ve signed off on a lot of stuff we’re happy with.”
“But you know, like all of these types of agreements with many parties involved, there’s always going to be a couple of dead rats you have to swallow,” he added.
We really are living in the age of lunacy, aren’t we?
I’m sure there was a time when the bloke who suggested taxing animal farts would have been carted off to the asylum to cool off for a bit.
Nowadays he’s likely to be running a country.
