Accounting for carbon emissions from shipping should be by international agreement rather than imposed regionally or by a country.
This is according to ExportNZ advocacy director Catherine Beard, who said imposing regional or localised emissions charges on shipping risks doubling up.
“That is why a global approach is preferable to regional, localised charges.
“If NZ looks at this policy it will amount to double dipping, double counting and double pay,” she said.
The Climate Change Commission draft advice on emissions budgets and targets from 2036-40 released this week scoped the idea of including air travel and shipping emissions in New Zealand’s inventory.
The European Union includes emissions from ships that use the ports of its member states.
Beard said Lincoln University research into the emissions during shipping of NZ food exports found that due to the volume of product and the size of ships, our emissions footprint is lower than that of countries we export to.
Zespri executive officer for sustainability Rachel Depree said ships carry 99% of the country’s trade by volume and around 80% by value and shipping emissions remain a challenge to decarbonising the industry.
She said the kiwifruit industry’s total emissions are low at 2kg per kilogram of kiwifruit, of which shipping contributes 43%.
“With Zespri having limited ability to directly reduce shipping emissions ourselves, our focus is on working with our shipping and distribution partners to increase efficiency and make the transition to low emissions fuels as we work towards being carbon positive by 2035.”
Fonterra’s director of sustainability, Charlotte Rutherford, said the co-operative already includes shipping emissions in its calculations.
“Distribution makes up only 1% of our total emissions, so it does not have a material impact on our overall profile.”
Rutherford said if the government were to adopt the commission’s proposal, it would encourage it to work alongside other countries to ensure emissions are only being accounted for once.
DairyNZ manager of corporate affairs Nick Robinson said the body does not support the inclusion of international shipping and aviation emissions in NZ’s domestic emissions reduction targets.
“If they are to be included, further work is needed to assess the implications for agriculture, particularly if the cost to reduce emissions is passed on to farmers.”
Distinguished Professor Robert McLachlan from Massey University said NZ’s international aviation emissions are nearly back to pre-covid levels and are growing rapidly.
Including international shipping and aviation emissions in NZ’s 2050 target would be consistent with the purpose of the Climate Change Response Act, global efforts under the Paris Agreement to limit global warming to 1.5degC and in line with recent actions by the United Kingdom, the EU and the United States, he said.
