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| Thu, 13th Oct 2022 14:32:00 |
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Albanese government has guaranteed farmers won’t be hurt if Australia signs methane pledge, NFF says |
Peak body says assurances given and must be upheld or trust with rural Australia ‘will be broken’
The Albanese government has provided assurances that farmers will not be hurt if Australia signs on to Joe Biden’s global pledge to cut global methane emissions by 30% by 2030, the National Farmers Federation (NFF) says.
Guardian Australia revealed in June that Labor was considering signing the pledge, and the agriculture minister, Murray Watt, on Thursday said he was “comfortable if we sign up to it”, although he said the government had not yet signed off on the commitment.
Signatories to the pledge agree to undertake voluntary actions in their countries to reduce emissions of methane, which is a potent greenhouse gas. Reducing methane emissions by 30% from 2020 levels is a global goal, not a national target.
But renewed speculation about Labor’s policy intentions in the run-up to UN-led climate talks in Egypt later this year triggered a resumption of factually incorrect and hyperbolic claims from the Coalition.
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, characterised Australia adopting an aspirational global goal as a “tax on cows”. The Nationals leader, David Littleproud, declared the Australian barbecue would be under threat.
Australia considered signing the methane pledge in the run-up to last year’s climate summit in Glasgow, because the Morrison government was lobbied by the Biden administration to make the commitment. But Australia refused at that time because the National party refused to countenance any methane cuts.
At the time, the NFF backed Morrison’s refusal to sign up to the Biden initiative, but Farmers for Climate Action urged Australia to commit to cutting methane.
The NFF said on Thursday it had been engaged in discussions with the Albanese government about the impact of signing the pledge.
“We’ve sought several assurances to guarantee that any decision to sign the pledge would not negatively impact farmers,” the NFF’s chief executive Tony Mahar said in a statement.
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