Climate change legislation
2 min read
The Government has set climate change targets and developed policies to reduce New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to a changing climate. These policies include specific initiatives to tackle agricultural emissions.
New Zealand has several emissions reduction targets. These are an important part of meeting our international climate change obligations and are set out in legislation. The targets require us to achieve:
Net zero means balancing the amount of greenhouse gases emitted with the same amount removed from the atmosphere. Removals can be achieved through a combination of emissions reductions and emissions removals, e.g. carbon sequestration from planting trees.
New Zealand’s targets take a ‘split gas’ approach, which recognises that biogenic methane does not need to reduce to net zero like other greenhouse gases. This is because biogenic methane behaves differently in the atmosphere and has a different warming impact. In October 2025, the Government decided to adjust the 2050 methane target down from 24-47% to 14-24%, in line with the recommendation of an independent scientific review of biogenic methane science and targets.
To stay on track to meet the 2050 targets, the Government has adopted a series of five-yearly emissions ‘budgets’ that set the amount that can be emitted over that period. The Government also maintains an emissions reduction plan, with details on the actions that will be taken to meet each emissions budget. Read more on the Ministry for the Environment website.
The Government has established a Climate Change Commission that provides independent advice and monitors progress towards New Zealand’s climate change goals.
DairyNZ engages across these government processes to ensure that the resulting legislation, targets and policies are fair and practical for dairy farmers. For more information, see our Advocacy page.
The Government has introduced legislation to keep agriculture out of the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme. It is committed instead to implementing a fair and sustainable pricing system for on-farm emissions by 2030. This was reconfirmed in December 2024 in the Government’s Emissions Reduction Plan for the period 2026-2030.
The Government has established a Pastoral Sector Group to help address methane. DairyNZ is participating, along with Beef + Lamb New Zealand, DCANZ, Federated Farmers, Deer Industry New Zealand and the Meat Industry Association.
It has also developed a standardised methodology for estimating on-farm emissions and will be making this available for use in existing greenhouse gas calculators. New mitigation technologies will be incorporated in the calculations as they emerge.
The Government is also continuing to invest in accelerating the development of new technologies to reduce emissions, including via AgriZero and the Ag Emissions Centre.
We will continue to update farmers once further details of these various Government processes are available. In the meantime, we encourage farmers to understand why there is a heightened focus on farm emissions, where they come from on a farm, and how to manage them. You might also be interested in finding out more about the greenhouse gas research that DairyNZ is undertaking.
Dairy companies are working actively on these issues too and should be able to provide information on your farm’s emissions numbers, and actions farmers can consider that will help improve efficiency.
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