Farmers split on Australia’s refusal to sign up to global methane pledge at Cop26 | Climate crisis

Farmer groups have split over the Coalition’s rejection of Joe Biden’s global methane pledge, with the National Farmers Federation backing the government’s stance while Farmers for Climate Action has urged Australia to commit to cut methane.Biden was pushing for an alliance at the Glasgow summit to limit global methane emissions by 30% from 2020 levels by the end of the decade, but the Australian government refused to sign on.The Nationals had insisted there should be no methane cuts as part of the party’s negotiations with the Liberals to land a 2050 net zero target.Joyce said the only way to reduce methane by 30% by 2030 would be “to go grab a rifle (and) go out and start shooting your cattle”.But the Farmers for Climate Action chief executive, Fiona Davis, said the methane pledge was not about “agriculture or cows” but about protecting the gas industry.“This is about the government defending gas,” she told the Rural Network’s Facebook Live event.Davis said the red meat industry had been working hard to reduce emissions and called for deeper emissions cuts in the current decade to 2030.Major livestock industries have set more ambitious targets than government since 2017. The Australian pork industry is aiming for carbon neutrality by 2025 while the red meat industry aims to be carbon neutral by 2030.“So we are on that path,” Davis said. “We fully support at Farmers for Climate Action [the government] signing that pledge and committing to it.”But the National Farmers Federation has backed in the Coalition for not signing the pledge, with president Fiona Simson saying the methane commitment could be a “really blunt instrument”.Simson said while she understood the pledge was more about fugitive emissions targeting gas extraction, “we feel like the bunny in the spotlight right now”.“The high-level pledge just says you are going to cut methane by 2030 so there is … room for an animal activist [to] come in and create all sorts of strange outcomes targeting agriculture.”Simson said that livestock growers had already cut emissions by 57% in the decade between 2005 and 2015 but countries which had supported the pledge “still have to go home and get it to work”.Yet she acknowledged Australian farmers were increasingly exposed to an “erratic and wild climate”.“Many farmers have come out of what is the worst drought in living memory, we have experienced the worst bushfires, even now in Armidale there has been wild hailstorms and tornadoes, and farmers are looking at how they can best prepare their farms to withstand those sorts of climatic shocks,” Simson said.Quick GuideHow to get the latest news from Guardian AustraliaShowPhotograph: Tim Robberts/Stone RFThank you for your feedback.Both farm leaders gave the Coalition credit for landing the 2050 net zero pledge and creating programs such as the carbon and biodiversity pilot to pay farmers for improving environmental measures on their landscapes.Farmer groups are increasingly signing on to commit to more ambitious targets. On Thursday, the NSW Irrigators Council, which only recently signed up to net zero 2050, confirmed it had landed an “aspirational” target to be carbon neutral by 2030.The NSWIC CEO, Claire Miller, said the irrigation sector was on the frontline of climate change, both environmentally and economically.“The economy of the very near future will demand and expect nations to demonstrate their commitment to reducing emissions. To remain globally competitive, our leaders must demonstrate Australia is doing our bit.“It’s only a matter of time. We are already seeing the shift, with the EU recently warning Australia may face carbon tariffs if it does not commit to strong 2030 targets.”Farmer Andrew Young runs Redgold, a salad growing farm in Mildura, producing 3,000-4,000 tonnes of salad a year for supermarkets and fast food companies. He said the unknowns related to the threat of a warming climate dominated his worries.“We are in the Mallee, we are drying and we are more storm-prone. We are also more internationally focused. I think it is poor of Australia, as wealthy as we are, not to stand up and look after less-privileged neighbours.”While he is not a livestock producer, he said he would still face costs of transition to a low carbon economy but he was prepared to wear it and fully supported signing on to the global methane pledge.“If it means we have a bit less cattle, well sorry, this problem is bigger than individuals. Let’s not forget what the big goal is. I have lots of freight and lots of plastic, but we need to get on top of climate so if i am a bit of collateral damage, so be it.”Davis said farmers wanted to be part of the solution to climate change but they also needed to know the rest of the economy was “moving alongside them”.“We can’t eat coal. We need to protect Australia’s agricultural industries to make sure we can continue to feed and clothe Australians and … the world,” Davis said.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/nov/04/farmers-split-on-australias-refusal-to-sign-up-to-global-methane-pledge-at-cop26