Just for some reading,
Transcript: Federal Climate Debate
Recorded live on 6 May 2022
Ebony Bennett [00:42:45] I've got a question from the audience, John Engler, that says The United
Nations secretary general and the latest IPCC climate report identified reducing methane emissions
as incredibly important coming from agriculture and the mining of coal and gas and waste landfill.
Will labour what will labour do in boosting accurate measurements of methane emissions, and would you push for Australia to sign on to the global methane pledge of reducing methane emissions by 30% by 2030?
Chris Bowen [00:43:17] Look,
I'm not going to sign on to a pledge, which I don't know how it would
be implemented in Australia without getting further advice. So it's very important frankly is the
alternative government that anything we say we do, we know how we would achieve it. Yes, it's
important to reduce methane. Absolutely. No question, particularly in Australia's context with as the
listener said, as the participants said, both our resources sector now agriculture sector. So there's
plenty to do in relation to methane,
but I'm not going to sign up to a pledge. We weren't consulted
about the pledges. The Opposition, although I would I expect that we would be by those who
presented it because it's not appropriate to engage in opposition before government. Then I look
forward to talking to my international counterparts about their methane reduction programmes and
how Australia might participate in that. But that's not that's not a commitment I'm in a position to
make without having all the evidence and advice about what is doable in the Australian context. But
I know making progress is true. I know we can reduce agricultural methane emissions by great
Australian science. I mean the asparagus, the seaweed is ammonia miracle reducing methane from
cattle. You almost 100% very big figures that you get methane reduction. But I also, to be fair
recognise it's a challenge because we are broadacre farming country. We spread out cattle out over
many hundreds of thousands of acres in Australia. We don't have feedlot farming like they do in
some other countries, so putting the asparagus into the feed is a lot harder in Australia. So that's not
to say we shouldn't do it, we shouldn't try, we shouldn't have government engagement. But you
know, it is to say that it's not just as you're saying we're going to just reduce agricultural emissions
by 80% or some figure without having very thorough scientific advice about what's achievable when
when it comes to that.
