<\/p>\n
\nClimate Change Minister Simon Watts.
\nPhoto: RNZ\/Mark Papalii\n<\/p>\n
A miscalculation has left New Zealand with less wiggle-room to meet all of its planned greenhouse gas savings.<\/p>\n
The Ministry for the Environment said the proportion of diesel cars in the country’s vehicle fleet was under-reported, leading to the error.<\/p>\n
It means the country is producing thousands of tonnes more in greenhouse gas emissions than previously reported, which now have to be accounted for in the government’s emissions savings plans.<\/p>\n
New Zealand has five-yearly ’emissions budgets’: the total amount of carbon-equivalent emissions the country can produce if it’s to stay on track to meet long-term climate targets.<\/p>\n
The emissions budget for 2026 to 2030 is still on track despite the mistake, the ministry said.<\/p>\n
However, the buffer has shrunk, from 4.5 million tonnes of greenhouse gases to 3.6 million tonnes – just a 1.2 percent buffer for the overall budget of 305 million tonnes.<\/p>\n
The ministry has also published an updated emissions reduction plan that takes into account the government’s decision not to introduce a pricing scheme for methane emissions from farms.<\/p>\n
It was “likely” that a pricing scheme would have helped to reduce emissions once it was implemented, the amendment said.<\/p>\n
However, the impact was not specifically modelled.<\/p>\n
“The scenarios modelled … did not distinguish between additional government policy and industry action in terms of their impact on emissions.”<\/p>\n
In a foreword to the new plan, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts said public consultation on the amendment “highlighted that widespread adoption of the emerging mitigation tools is critical for a technology-led approach to succeed”.<\/p>\n
“We agree with this,” he said.<\/p>\n
The government has pointed to a ‘pipeline’ of agricultural methane-inhibiting technology as crucial to achieving New Zealand’s domestic and international emissions targets.<\/p>\n
It has invested $400 million in the development of new technologies through the government-industry partnership AgriZero.<\/p>\n
Some tech, like a small metal ‘bolus’ that is administered directly to cows and sheep, or a vaccine, could reduce the amount of methane an animal produces by as much as 30 percent.<\/p>\n