Countries have been working for years towards a new, legal agreement on climate change that includes obligations for all countries. A core part of the approach taken is that all countries should prepare &quot;Intended Nationally Determined Contributions&quot; (INDCs) towards the global effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, with a long-term goal of limiting the rise in global temperatures to no more than 2 degrees relative to pre-industrial levels.

New Zealand released its INDC on 7 July 2015, committing to reducing its economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions by 30% below 2005 levels by 2030. This equates to a reduction of about 11% below 1990 levels. The commitment is provisional pending confirmation of the approaches to be taken in accounting for the land sector, and confirmation of access to carbon markets. New Zealand has already committed unconditionally to reduce its emissions by 5% below 1990 levels by 2020, or take responsibility for any excess emissions using Kyoto Protocol mechanisms.


The INDC gives particular recognition to the challenges around reducing agricultural greenhouse gas emissions to achieve this overall reduction goal. It states: &quot;In order to achieve domestic reductions and to do so at an affordable cost, we have identified a need for cost-effective mitigation technology, and in particular that our continuing investment in agricultural research delivers results that can be commercialised within the time period covered by this contribution.&quot;


NZAGRC is recognised specifically in the INDC as a key mechanism to meet emission reduction targets and to achieve more stringent emission reductions beyond 2030. The INDC states &quot;New Zealand has a long-standing commitment to providing leadership in research, innovation and technical solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture, and sharing this knowledge internationally. The New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre was established to deliver knowledge, technologies and practices to enable New Zealand to enhance agricultural productivity in a carbon constrained world. New Zealand was a founding member of the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases (GRA). The GRA was established with the aim of increasing international cooperation, collaboration and investment in agricultural greenhouse gas research, to find ways to grow more food without growing greenhouse gas emissions. [...] New Zealand&#39;s long-term emission pathway anticipates accelerated emission reductions post 2030 once agricultural mitigation technology becomes more widely applied&quot;.


Recent progress in the research by NZAGRC and Pastoral Greenhouse Gas Research Consortium  (PGgRc), supported by investments in support of the GRA, indeed give some confidence that additional technologies for reducing emissions will become available in the future and can be widely applied. The PGgRc and NZAGRC have been working in close partnership to develop mitigation options.  The PGgRc has taken over the role of commercialising (including as appropriate with international partners) new technologies to reduce methane emissions developed by this collective effort.


For New Zealand&#39;s post-2020 climate change target see www.mfe.govt.nz/node/20725