Synthetic nitrogen - further analysis

We have been tasked with looking across Aotearoa and providing advice that will support an equitable transition to a low emissions future.

Through consultation on our draft advice, we received submissions asking us to look at synthetic nitrogen use in more detail. We took that feedback on board and carried out further analysis.

We agree that drastically reducing synthetic nitrogen would lower emissions. But what we can’t be sure of is what the impact of this sort of sudden change would mean for people, and whether many farms would continue to be viable.

Our agricultural sector, our economy, and all the communities and households that would be impacted must be supported through these sorts of big changes.

We asked ourselves a series of questions when developing our advice. Is this ambitious enough? Is it fair and equitable? Is it technically and economically feasible? Can it be achieved through policy?

Our advice to government recommends we need to change the way we farm in Aotearoa. We have made recommendations around changing farm practices – this could be changing stock levels, reducing supplementary feed and reducing synthetic nitrogen fertilizer.

Our advice sets an ambitious but achievable level of change across every sector – including agriculture. We will continue to look at synthetic nitrogen use in our 2022 advice on progress against pricing agricultural emissions, and in our subsequent budgets.

You can read the paper that sets out the further analysis we did here.