“It is almost unbelievable that one of the leading Methane scientists in the world, Dr Myles Allen, Professor at Oxford University who was a prominent designer of the GWP (Global Warming Potential), system has done a major back flip demanding the EU drop the long touted ‘Methane is 28 times stronger than CO2’ meme” said Robin Grieve of F.A.R.M.

“Allen now says the difference should be only 7 times stronger than CO2. So much for settled science. A stroke of the pen and most of the Methane problem disappears.

“This is critical information to NZ where the Government and even farming industry groups have accepted the notion that Methane is 28 times stronger than CO2. The potential cost to farmers to work with this concept was going to be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Reducing the ratio by 400% shows just how wrong everyone has been and how little scientists actually understand the situation, yet they were willing to advise policy makers to put farming under huge pressure to conform.

“The reality is that the new proposed system which assigns methane a multiplier of 7 times instead of 28, is most probably also wrong albeit less wrong than the current system.

“Adopting Allen’s proposed system of accounting for methane will slash 26 thousand tonnes off New Zealand’s carbon emissions overnight – approximately a 32% reduction.

FARM is demanding the government, the relevant agencies and the industry step back from the whole idea that Methane is a major problem until the science is settled enough to determine whether it is or not. There should be no financial imposition on farmers for ruminant methane emissions based on guesswork and uncertain science.

“What all the scientists seem to ignore is that when emissions are not causing any increase in atmospheric greenhouse gas they should not be classified in the same category as those which are. It really is that simple.

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