Agriculture emissions consist mainly of methane and nitrous oxide from livestock and cropping. They represent 16 per cent of Australia’s total emissions, making them Australia’s second largest source of emissions.
The Government has concluded it will not be practical to cover agricultural emissions when the Scheme commences in 2010. The difficulties with including agriculture include:
- Estimating or measuring agricultural emissions is complex;
- The large amount of entities in the sector (over 100,000).
Beginning in 2009, the Government will undertake a work program in consultation with the agriculture industry. The work program will include:
Economic analysis of the impacts of coverage and of different points of liability;
Analysis of the supply chains for agricultural products to identify cost-effective
points for liability under the Scheme;
Research to improve the accuracy of emissions estimation and development of
emissions reporting capabilities;
The industry will be consulted on the above areas. Research on soil management, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to changing climate for the agricultural sector is currently being supported through Australia’s Farming Future, which is administered by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.
In 2013 a decision will be made as to whether to cover agriculture emissions from 2015. If the Government decides not to include the agricultural sector in the Scheme, it is likely to apply alternative mitigation measures to achieve emissions reductions. These mitigation measures will have a similar cost impact to being included under the Scheme.
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