Bigger news than it sounds

I know people can't hear about the link between cows and global warming without cracking up with laughter at the thought of cow flatulance and "fart taxes" - so I don't really expect people to have paid much attention to today's story in the Dominion-Post about a wee pill to save the planet. But it's big news, and good news, and worth paying attention to.

The short version: urine - cow, human, or otherwise - has nitrates in it. When "deposited", nitrates do two things: they act as fertiliser, which (given the tendency for water to flow downhill) eventually ends up in the nearest stream, then the nerest large body of water, and gives us messes like Lake Rotoiti and algal blooms. And secondly, it breaks down into nitrous oxide, a very powerful greenhouse gas which makes up a large portion of New Zealand's (and the world's) emissions.

The good news is that New Zealand scientists have invented a pill that reduces the amount of nitrogen in cow urine. Which means less pollution in our waterways, and lower greenhouse emissions (which with the Kyoto Protocol almost certain to come into force, will save us money). There's also the prospect of international sales - which will help other countries reduce their emissions as well.

The problem is that there seems to be little incentive for farmers to actually use the thing, and therefore little incentive to reduce emissions. And any policy to make them do it (by regulation, for example) is going to have significant enforcement problems. The easiest mechanism would have been to rely on market incentives - a pollution tax on cows, with a rebate for reduction - but the government has already backed away from this sort of mechanism (the fools). Which leaves direct subsidies (which still run into the incentive problem), or using the projects mechanism. I think the latter is the answer, but rather than offering carbon credits to farmers on an individual basis, it would be better to try and cut a deal with Fonterra to provide credits in exchange for their enforcing emission reduction through a code of practice.