The final IPCC report was unequivocal in its call to reduce emissions immediately but the government has no further news on how agricultural emissions charging will work, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here.

Immediate action to cut emissions required

I included an item on the final Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report yesterday morning. More response has emerged on its relevance to New Zealand and the laser-like focus the report has on emissions reduction. Methane emissions reduction was specifically called out. It really is quite remarkable that the report managed to convey both a sense of being on the brink of catastrophic warming, and also, hope. The catastrophe resides in the fact that the world will push past a dangerous temperature threshold within the next 10 years. The hope resides in the “unless” bit. Economies will need to drastically transform and cut emissions immediately. That framing and the overall findings are very well summarised by RNZ’s Hamish Cardwell.

Unequivocal on human activities causing temperatures to rise

The report is also unequivocal – human activities have caused global surface temperatures to rise. The University of Otago’s Daniel Kingston called the use of that language “remarkable” in comments supplied by the Science Media Centre, noting that scientists usually like to include “many ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’”. NASA’s planetary vital signs dashboard is always useful here for a look at both the increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and the rise in global temperature since 1880.

Government still planning on charge for agricultural emissions

As Stuff’s Glenn McConnell writes, methane accounts for 44% of the country’s emissions. Almost all of New Zealand’s methane comes from agriculture. Cardwell notes that we are one of the largest emitters per capita in the OECD, and our emissions combined with the other smaller countries adds up to about two-thirds of the world’s total. Responding to the report, prime minister Chris Hipkins said the government still planned to introduce a charge for agricultural emissions in 2025, but he had not yet made a decision about how to implement that. The last word from Federated Farmers on the timing of the legislation that will enable agricultural emissions pricing was that the government will not have time to pass it before the election. National’s new agriculture spokesman, Todd McClay has said he wants to “kick the tyres” on the party’s climate change policy as it applied to agriculture. All those involved in the IPCC report and its call for immediate action on emissions reduction probably won’t find any of this reassuring.

What do recent polls say about whether this will be the ‘climate change election’?

Finally, with all the catastrophic warnings, unequivocal scientific evidence and severe weather events, Toby Manhire has waded through a range of recent polls on how we feel about climate change, how likely it is to impact our vote at the election and whether we’d like the government to act more urgently on it. This morning, Manhire presents his findings on whether recent suggestions that this year’s election will be the climate change election hold water.