The National Party’s proposed climate policy changes will neuter the Emissions Trading Scheme and leave it impotent, and New Zealand agriculture will be worse off as a result.

These are the beliefs of the World Wildlife Fund whose manager of climate change, Peter Hardstaff, says that National’s decision to increase the ETS loopholes and delay agriculture’s introduction into the scheme will hurt farmers in the long run.

"“Why go to all the effort of creating a mechanism that puts a price on pollution and then claim that, in the case of agriculture, that this won’t actually work.

"The government seems to be saying that with agriculture, the conventional thinking about markets and innovation doesn’t apply. So instead of stimulating and tapping into the ingenuity of farmers themselves the government is saying what we need is a centrally planned effort, where the government comes up with the answer then hands it down.”   

Mr Hardstaff says the National Party has indicated it will artificially deflate the price of emissions for longer, will continue to issue free pollution credits and keep agriculture, which generates half of the country’s emissions, out of the scheme.

And he says the longer we leave it, the harder, and more expensive it will become.

“We need to kickstart innovation and investment and the sooner we start that transition the smoother and easier it’s likely to be. And a price on pollution is just one way to help achieve that.

"Like it or not agriculture is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions in New Zealand and we all need to be doing our bit to be reducing emissions.” 

Mr Hardstaff says New Zealand leaving agriculture out of our scheme would be akin to Europe leaving their biggest emitter, electricity generation, out of theirs – turning international efforts to battle climate change into a farce.

He says he believes farmers and New Zealanders are missing out on opportunities because the climate change debate is always framed around cost.

“I think that so much of the current discussion on climate change is around the cost, about pain, suffering, and not actually enough about the opportunities that exist to improve ways of doing things.

"Whether that be industry, transport, electricity generation or agriculture, you know, ways of things that will improve our standard of living as well.” 

However, the National Party says it is not prepared to introduce agriculture into the ETS unless our trading partners have made moves to reduce their emissions.

While National currently has agriculture penned in to be introduced to the Emissions Trading Scheme in 2015, it says this will be reviewed in 2014.