Thursday, March 28, 2024

B+LNZ welcomes first changes to ETS forest regulations

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Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ) is pushing government to step out even further on its proposals to change the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) regulations on forestry, to limit the ability of polluters to offset emissions against forestry plantings.
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B+LNZ chair Sam McIvor says the Government is on the right track with proposed ETS changes, but more is needed to be done.

Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ) is pushing government to step out even further on its proposals to change the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) regulations on forestry, to limit the ability of polluters to offset emissions against forestry plantings.

B+LNZ chair Sam McIvor has welcomed recent changes that have included removing the special forestry approval for overseas buyers of land for trees and the shift to only allow native trees to be planted as permanent carbon sinks.

Forestry Minister Stuart Nash has expressed the Government’s desire to see both outcomes as ETS forestry regulations pass through the discussion process this month.

The rate of conversion of farmland to permanent exotic carbon forestry was described by McIvor as alarming and the “elephant in the room” should it be allowed to continue unbridled.

Latest data from the Ministry for Primary Industries’ report on afforestation and deforestation intentions estimates exotic afforestation accounts for a total of 78,900ha of new plantings in the past two years.

Of this, about three-quarters is intended for production forestry and the remainder, about 20,000ha, is exotic carbon forestry.

In context of total forestation in NZ, in April 2021 there was 1.74 million hectares in exotic forest plantation.

This was up from 1.717m ha the year before, but still significantly down on the 2003 peak of 1.827m ha.

The trend for total planted area has been in decline since 2003 and only started reversing in 2020.

McIvor said B+LNZ intends to continue to lobby government to also introduce planting limits on fossil fuel-emitters and speculators incentivised to plant exotic carbon forestry on productive farmland.

Nash told Farmers Weekly the Government has no plans to try to curtail what individual farmers choose to do with their land, including decisions to plant trees upon it.

The circulating discussion document on the proposed changes has the Government acknowledging the impact a legacy of exotic forests could have on the environment, an outcome acknowledged by the minister himself (see Farmers Weekly, March 14).

“The proposals show the Government has acknowledged and accepted the Climate Change Commission’s (CCC) advice around seriously questioning the dominant role of exotic forests in offsetting carbon, rather than actually reducing our country’s emissions,” McIvor said.

But he maintains gaps remain in recommendations in the CCC’s advice to government. 

The dominant role exotic forests are to have in offsetting carbon, rather than an actual reduction in the country’s hydrocarbon emissions is a key challenge the Government had to address.

The CCC has recommended NZ plant new areas of 300,000ha of natives and 380,000ha of exotic trees between now and 2035 as part of the country’s decarbonisation goals to 2050.

However, the CCC has also acknowledged NZ cannot “plant its way out of trouble” and needed to make real cuts in emissions and eliminate the use of fossil fuels.

B+LNZ’s position is that there needs to be limits in the ETS on the amount of offsetting fossil fuel emitters can do, in line with what happens in all other countries internationally.

McIvor also welcomed the other rule change to the special forestry test that now puts foreign farm and forestry land purchases on the same footing, required to complete a more arduous “benefit to New Zealand” test.

“Combined with changes to the ETS, it is one of a range of approaches that will be necessary to address this very real and growing threat to NZ’s productive sheep and beef land,” he said.

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