Environmental advocates are criticizing New Zealand officials after the government announced, in mid-October, a plan to loosen targets for reducing methane emissions, The Guardian has reported.
Previous reduction targets set the country a goal of reducing its 2017 methane emissions by 24 to 47 percent by 2050. Now, governmental officials have said, those goals will shift to a range of just 14 to 24 percent.
The Guardian noted that the Federated Farmers of New Zealand characterized the move as "long overdue." Agricultural producers across the country have reportedly felt squeezed by the methane targets to date and unsure about how to help meet them while their livestock emit the heat-trapping gas.
But while many farmers have been supportive of the target change, environmentalists have denounced it. Greenpeace's New Zealand branch criticized government officials for "full-blown climate denial."
The country made news around this time last year for considering easing its decarbonization goals. Climate Action Tracker currently ranks the country as "highly insufficient" in reaching global climate goals.
In slackening methane-reduction targets, environmentalist Amanda Larsson said Prime Minister Christopher Luxon was "choosing ... corporate profits over our kids' future."
Methane is a heat-trapping gas that is contributing to the rise in global temperatures.
Livestock can produce large amounts of methane through their digestive processes. One cow can belch 220 pounds of methane every year, the University of California, Davis has noted. According to The Guardian, the agricultural industry is responsible for nearly 50 percent of New Zealand's methane emissions.
Although methane has a shorter life than carbon dioxide (about 12 years compared to centuries), it has a much greater warming effect -- it's over 28 times more potent than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere.
According to scientists, every increment of warming, down to a 10th of a degree, can affect weather patterns, so reducing methane emissions could play a significant role in mitigating disasters.
Countries around the world have taken on initiatives to reduce the generation of heat-trapping pollution. Over 150 countries have signed onto the Global Methane Pledge, for example, which aims to reduce methane emissions by 30 percent by 2030, compared to 2020 levels. According to the pledge, this could cut global average temperatures by 0.2 degrees Celsius, or 0.36 degrees Fahrenheit.
A variety of powerful tools already exist to monitor methane emissions. The United Nations manages the International Methane Emissions Observatory, which uses satellites to gather data about methane leaks.
Unfortunately, the IMEO warned on October 22, governments and corporations are not taking sufficient action to address methane. Its latest report "shows that oil and gas companies responded to only 12 percent of 3,500 leak alerts issued this year," demonstrating just a 1 percent increase over last year, according to Ecofin Agency.
New Zealand climate change minister Simon Watts suggested that the country's hundreds of millions of dollars of investment in "methane-cutting technology" for farmers could be effective, The Guardian reported. But while some scientists have championed incorporating such strategies, they also generally agree that they will not, on their own, be able to address this critical issue, noting that reducing methane at the source should be the primary effort. Advocacy groups like the Environmental Defense Fund have previously identified oil and gas companies as those to be called on for prioritized reductions.