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30 Mar 2024 04:46:45

Current NZ methane targets - are they enough?

Posted: 02 May 2021

The UN is arguing for far greater reductions in methane in a report due for release this coming week. It says a cut in the powerful climate-changing gas by as much as 45 percent by 2030 would help avoid 0.3°C of global warming by the early 2040s, thereby creating substantial climate, health, societal and economic benefits.

In stark contrast, our Government has exempted from our Zero Carbon Act methane generated by agricultural and waste streams, even though they respectively account for 37 percent and 6 percent of our total greenhouse gas emissions. The Government’s current target for them is only a 10 percent reduction in methane emissions by 2030 and a 24-47 percent reduction by 2050 from 2017 levels.  Read the article here.