Greenpeace has dubbed the Government’s Emissions Reduction Plan an 'Omissions Ridiculous Plan’, for its failure to address New Zealand’s biggest climate polluter - the dairy industry.

Lead agriculture campaigner Christine Rose says, "Intensive dairying is the number one cause of climate pollution in Aotearoa, so it’s absolutely staggering to see that the Emissions Reduction Plan fails to include policy that would reduce cow numbers or phase out the synthetic nitrogen fertiliser that drives emissions.""This Emissions Reduction plan is not credible because it fails to deal with the dirty great cow in the room - New Zealand's biggest climate polluter - intensive dairy," says Rose.

Despite initial Climate Commission recommendations that New Zealand needed to reduce the livestock herd and area farmed, the Government has not included these policies in the plan. Other nations have been taking such steps, including the Netherlands which plans to cut the herd by 30% by 2030.

The Government’s projections show the ERP will reduce agricultural emissions by as little as 0.33 Mt CO2e over the 2022-2025 period which is less than 1% of the industry’s projected emissions.

The ERP’s approach to agriculture relies heavily on industry self-regulation - through He Waka Eke Noa - which is also expected to reduce emissions by only 1%.

"Instead of just cutting cow numbers, the Government is relying on industry promises, hypothetical, and unproven techno-fixes to agricultural emissions, and the freshwater reforms that the dairy industry is undermining at every step," says Rose.

The Emissions Reduction Plan gifts $710 million to the agricultural industry - a quarter of the entire Climate Emergency Response Fund which it has not contributed towards.

"Despite the climate emergency, industrial dairy has yet again been given a free pass that now comes with a huge subsidy from the rest of New Zealand.

"This is a kick in the guts for New Zealanders who are effectively subsidising the intensive dairy industry due to the industry’s exemption from the ETS.

"To truly deal with the climate crisis the Government needs a far better plan than they have produced today. A plan that cuts cow numbers, phases out synthetic fertiliser and drives the transition to more plant-based regenerative organic farming," says Rose.

© Scoop Media