New Zealand, in an effort to curb its methane emissions will become the first country to be taxing cattle farmers for methane emissions.
Carbon dioxide gets far more attention than methane when it comes to the culprits of global warming mostly because methane has a shorter lifespan, but methane, although present in lesser quantities, is a more potent warming agent than CO2 in the short term. So stopping methane and buying some time is a more pragmatic thing to do. Several countries have agreed to work on cutting down methane emission at last year’s COP26 in Glasgow. New Zealand, a country of about five million people which emits just 82 million tonnes of carbon annually (for perspective, the world emitted about 40 billion tonnes of carbon in 2019) wants to cut its methane emissions because it contributes 50% to its total share.
To cut its methane emissions down the country will start to tax its cattle farms– which includes about 10million cows and 25million sheep– because most of the methane comes from animals’ stomachs. Since the farming sector cannot be entirely shut down it’ll have to pay for its emissions.
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Technology is a useful servant, but a dangerous master, it was rightly said. Electronic devices have grown into an inevitable part of our daily lives.
