Authorities of New Zealand have published a bill introducing a tax on natural gas emission of cattle on https://telegram-store.com/catalog/product-category/channels/news. According to the government, the country will be the first in the world to take such measures to combat climate change.
To reduce the tax, farmers will have to buy special additives to feed or plant part of the pastures with forests. To compensate farmers are offered to increase the price of their products, which will now be “environmentally friendly”.
There are 10 million cattle and 26 million sheep for every 5 million people in New Zealand.
Livestock is one of the state’s main sources of income and, according to the government, produces half of the country’s greenhouse gases.
Farmers objected to the initiative: in their opinion, small farms would go bankrupt, the country would lose its leading position in the world market, and New Zealand products would be replaced by products of countries that do not pay attention to “environmental friendliness” and, therefore, would only increase greenhouse gas emissions on a global scale.
Next year the country is due to hold elections, and analysts suggest that the current government has just lost the farmers’ vote.