The Opportunity Party would adopt the Climate Change Commission’s range of cutting biogenic methane, and target well above the government’s revised 14 to 24%.

Deputy leader Daniel Eb says the party has committed only to exploring how it would get there.

“We are not applying a tax. We’re not applying any blanket restrictions,” he says.

“We are a market-based party — we think that markets nine times out of 10 can generate better results than regulations.

“We won’t instil any cap and trade system on biogenic methane or nitrogen until the technology and the tools are in place for farmers to be able to compete in that market profitably and fairly.”

He says their party’s ambition is about the decades ahead.

“We have to make policy for the world that we’re heading into, not the world that we live in right now.

“In a two-degree world, inaction on methane is not a luxury; it’s a necessity.”

He says their approach is not hard left.

“Tell that to the farmers farming in Lake Taupō — they’re farming under a nitrogen cap and trade regime and I don’t think they’d consider themselves left wing.”

CountryWide CONNECT with Andy Thompson & Sarah Perriam-Lampp is our daily rural show livestreamed from 11am-1pm. Visit country-wide.co.nz on how to watch/listen or download the CountryWide CONNECT mobile app, available on Apple iOS and Android.

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