Greenpeace Aotearoa says the Climate Change Commission’s latest report is a much-needed call for more ambitious climate action, as the commission recommends strengthening New Zealand’s methane emissions reduction target.

Greenpeace Aotearoa spokesperson Sinéad Deighton-O’Flynn says, "The intensive dairy industry, led by Fonterra, is NZ’s worst climate polluter, belching out vast amounts of superheating methane gas.

"Now, New Zealand’s independent, science-centred climate change commission is calling for stronger methane reduction targets to address the worst of the climate crisis."

The Commission’s report called for New Zealand’s methane target to be strengthened to a reduction of 35-47% by 2050 and acknowledged greater reduction in stocking rates as a system shift that would help achieve these targets.

"Methane is a massive contributor to climate change but is also relatively short-lived. By drastically cutting methane emissions and keeping them down, we can pull the climate emergency brake. That’s why it’s so important that New Zealand sets strong, ambitious targets to cut our methane emissions rapidly," says Deighton-O’Flynn.

According to the global assessment of methane by the UN Environment Programme and the Climate and Clean Air Coalition in 2021, a 45% reduction of methane emissions by 2030 could avoid nearly 0.3°C of warming by 2040. Every fraction of a degree impacts the lives and livelihoods of millions of people.

"We are already experiencing the destruction caused by climate change in the form of floods, droughts, heatwaves and wildfires. Strong action on climate is essential to protecting our communities, health, and economy and is crucial in ensuring a safe future for generations to come. And the best part is that we know exactly where to start," says Deighton-O’Flynn.

"The dairy industry is New Zealand’s worst climate polluter because there are simply too many dairy cows. They are the primary source of New Zealand’s outsized methane emissions.

"The only reason that Fonterra and the rest of the dairy industry are able to maintain these massive herd sizes is the use of palm kernel and synthetic nitrogen fertiliser. Ending the use of these destructive inputs, and reducing the number of cows in Aotearoa, will reduce methane emissions significantly."

Earlier this week, the Government’s separate Methane Review Panel published advice about what a new methane target would look like if the way of measuring methane emissions were to change. Greenpeace criticised this when it was released, saying that "the methane review is designed to disguise political ideology as scientific fact."

"The Methane Review Panel was set up to bypass the independent scientific advice of the Climate Change Commission because that advice didn’t say what the Government - and the livestock industry lobbyists who wrote their policy - wanted to hear," says Deighton-O’Flynn.

"At a time when the Luxon-led government is caving to the polluting industry lobbyists and undermining climate action across all fronts, independent scientific advice is more important than ever. The Climate Change Commission’s latest advice provides a much-needed call for more ambition to fight the climate crisis by cutting methane emissions now."

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