Government almost halves methane reduction target, farmers celebrate
Sunday, 12 October 2025
The Government has almost halved New Zealand’s target for reducing the emission of climate-warming methane gas, moving the goal from a 24% to 14% reduction by 2050.
Speaking on a farm in Waikato on Sunday, ministers described their new goal as “science-based” following advice from a Government-commissioned review last year. But, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has repeatedly stressed the importance of reducing, specifically, methane emissions.
New Zealand is unusual in that the vast majority of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions come from agricultural.
Methane makes up half of New Zealand’s overall emissions profile, yet even with a much lower reduction target, Climate Minister Simon Watts said he still expected the country could produce net-zero emissions by 2050.
“The Government remains committed to our domestic and international climate change commitments, including net-zero by 2050. And agriculture will continue to make an important and fair contribution in terms of achieving this,” he said.
But he added: “Our methane targets must be practical for farmers, because a climate solution that bankrupts the people that feed us is not a solution at all.”
Watts said the new target for biogenic methane emissions, which come from animals on farms, would see those emissions drop by 14-24% below 2017 levels by 2050.
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay also confirmed the Government would not tax agricultural emissions.
He said this plan had been shared with Opposition parties on Sunday morning, and he expected there would be bipartisan support for it. But Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick quickly denounced the announcement, labelling it anti-science.
“Methane is a superheating gas. It is 80 times stronger at frying our atmosphere than carbon in the short-term. To keep a liveable planet, we must cut methane emissions,” she said.
She said the plan appeared to be “cooked up by lobbyists” working for farming companies. And she called it “pseudo-scientific rubbish”, which would fuel climate change and, in turn, make it harder and more costly to farm and produce food.
Federated Farmers celebrated the change, saying the previous target was “methane madness”.
“Kiwi farmers have been bogged down in completely unscientific, unaffordable and unrealistic climate policy for far too long,“ Federated Farmers president Wayne Langford said.
Including agriculture in the Emissions Trading Scheme, or placing a price on methane emissions, would have closed some farms, he said.
The previous government had planned to price agricultural emissions, and had worked with farming groups to find the “lowest price possible” to charge for methane emissions.
“At times it’s felt like absolute madness that we’d even be talking about policies that would shut down farms, send production offshore, and completely undermine New Zealand’s economy,” Langford said.
Other industries included in the Emissions Trading Scheme do pay for greenhouse gas emissions.
Labour said the Government was “moving the goalposts” and showed National had caved to coalition partners.
“The proposed new methane target of 14 to 25% by 2050 is a significant step back from the 24 to 47% range National agreed through the Zero Carbon Act,” said Labour’s climate change spokesperson, Deborah Russell.
“Once again, Christopher Luxon's weak leadership means National has caved to coalition pressure rather than stand up for New Zealand’s long-term interests,” she said.
The ACT Party celebrated the announcement. Associate agriculture minister Andrew Hoggard, from ACT, promised “the threat of pricing is off the table”.
National had previously supported pricing agricultural emissions, at the lowest price possible.
At the announcement on Sunday, ministers also confirmed:
The methane target would be reviewed again by at least 2040, to account for climate changes and scientific advancement.
The Government was looking to negotiate a split gas target for all of New Zealand’s future international climate change commitments.
It would rely heavily on possible scientific solutions to reduce methane emissions, by investing taxpayer funds into research and development with the primary production industry. It has already confirmed $400 million to research methane-cutting tools.