ACT is welcoming the announcement of legislation to keep agriculture out of the emissions trading scheme.

"Under Labour and the Greens, farmers were being lined up as a sacrifice to the climate gods," says ACT Rural Communities spokesman and Ruawai farmer Mark Cameron.

"Now, farmers are recognised as the backbone of our economy, and valued by a government that understands we can meet our emissions obligations without knee-capping rural New Zealand's productive potential.

"Lumping agriculture into the Emissions Trading Scheme would not have worked to reduce global emissions. Piling costs onto local farms would have given other countries a competitive edge, shifting food production offshore to places with far less carbon-efficient farmers than New Zealand's.

"New Zealand will only prosper if we match our goals with actions which actually benefit the environment. That's why ACT has secured coalition commitments to deliver a smarter, more scientific, and more economic approach to climate policy.

"We're maintaining a split-gas approach to methane and carbon dioxide through to 2050, and reviewing the methane science and targets. And we will ensure farmers are able to offset on-farm sequestration from their emissions liability.

“Real environmentalists would support this approach as it stops production moving to more carbon intensive countries.

"Naturally, ACT would like to go further in unleashing rural New Zealand's potential. We'd like to see the Zero Carbon Act repealed and the Climate Change Commission abolished. But with ACT in government, farmers are in a far better position than they otherwise would be."

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