Climate Change: Beaten by the Danes

This week the National government introduced legislation to remove agriculture from the ETS, ensuring our largest polluters continue to get a free ride for as long as they hold power. But while National is dragging us backwards, Denmark is moving forwards, and is making its farmers pay for their pollution:

The Danish government will introduce Europe’s first carbon tax on agriculture, after a five-month negotiation with farming and conservation groups ended in a historic agreement on Monday night.

From 2030 farmers will have to pay 120 Danish krone (€16) per metric ton of emitted carbon dioxide equivalent, rising to 300 krone (€40) from 2035 onwards. The government will also provide €5.3 billion to reforest 250,000 hectares of agricultural land by 2045, set aside 140,000 of lowland by 2030, and buy out certain farms to reduce nitrogen emissions.

The agreement has the support of Danish farming groups, who recognise that they have no future without a stable climate, and that they have to carry their part of the burden rather than expecting everyone else to subsidise them. Which I guess shows they're more pro-social than the New Zealand variety.

This is obviously good for Denmark and the climate, but it will likely also have an impact on New Zealand. There'll now be a voice within the EU demanding that agricultural imports not be effectively subsidised with free carbon, and pushing for that subsidy to be offset with a border carbon adjustment. By dragging their feet and refusing to do their bit, New Zealand's dirty, backwards farmers have made themselves vulnerable to such arguments. And they'll have no-one but themselves to blame if it comes back to bite them.