Greenpeace Aotearoa says the appointment of former Fonterra director Nicola Shadbolt to the Government’s so-called ‘independent’ methane review panel highlights that the panel’s true purpose is to delay climate action.

Greenpeace Aotearoa spokesperson Niamh O’Flynn says, "For decades, the science has been crystal clear on the need to cut methane pollution from the intensive dairy industry, but industry lobbyists have employed a strategy of denial and delay to avoid responsibility for their climate pollution.

"Now, the Luxon Government has brought in a stacked panel to undermine this already well-established science. As well as a former Fonterra director, the panel includes David Frame, who is famously at odds with the scientific consensus on methane.

"The Government can play at creative accounting, but ultimately, the only path to avoiding total climate collapse is through actually cutting emissions.

"Because methane is a superheating gas, cutting methane emissions from the dairy industry now will have a real impact on lowering New Zealand’s climate pollution - which we know is desperately needed. This review panel is simply a distraction from the task at hand."

The dairy industry is New Zealand's biggest climate polluter, and successive Governments have failed to take any meaningful action to restrict its emissions.

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