Government resets 2050 biogenic methane target

The Government has announced decisions regarding New Zealand’s 2050 climate change targets.

New Zealand has adopted a split gas approach for its domestic climate change goals. This acknowledges that biogenic methane – which is a short-lived greenhouse gas – has different warming impacts than long-lived greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide.

Changes to the 2050 target:

• Reset the target for reductions required in biogenic methane emissions by 2050 to 14 – 24 per cent below 2017 levels.  

• Retain the current net-zero 2050 target for long-lived gases. 

• Defer decisions to set the fourth emissions budget and consider whether to reset the first three emissions budgets to 31 December 2027. These decisions were due to be made before the end of the year.