Where the law sits. Agricultural emissions are not covered by the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme. Processor-level obligations were repealed in 2024 before they took effect, and there is no farm-level emissions return or surrender obligation in New Zealand law today. Nothing on this page is a compliance requirement.
What is real: the Government has signalled an on-farm pricing system by 2030, biogenic methane is already accounted for against a separate target in the Climate Change Response Act, and a growing number of processors and lenders ask for a number voluntarily.
What does your farm produce?
Enter your annual average stock numbers and fertiliser use for an indicative profile in tonnes of CO2-equivalent. It uses the national-average factors the Ministry for Cities, Environment, Regions and Transport (formerly the Ministry for the Environment) publishes in Measuring Emissions: A Guide for Organisations. No account needed, no prices, and nothing is owed.
Why methane is on its own line
New Zealand accounts for biogenic methane separately from long-lived gases - nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide - under the Climate Change Response Act, and the two have different targets. On most sheep, beef and dairy farms methane is the large majority of the profile, so a single blended tonnage hides the thing that matters most. The result keeps them apart.
Track it year-round with My Farm
The My Farm dashboard on Carbon Tracker® (14-day free trial, then a small subscription) keeps your profile in your account: each farm you run, the split between biogenic methane and long-lived gases, where the emissions come from, and a per-hectare figure if you record your effective area. It is a planning tool, not a compliance tool: there is no liability, no shortfall and no cost to cover, because nothing is owed.
If you also have trees, that part earns units
Forestry is in the ETS, and that is where registered land earns tradeable NZUs. My Forest on Carbon Tracker works out what your blocks have earned from the MPI look-up tables. Those units are a separate legal entitlement and are never subtracted from a farm profile, because farm emissions carry no obligation for them to offset. If you choose to sell them, you can list them on Carbon Trader® and sell them with escrow or direct.
Who this fits
Dairy, sheep and beef, deer, and mixed operations - anyone who wants a defensible starting number for a processor programme, a bank sustainability conversation, or their own planning. It also fits farm consultants and rural professionals who want a quick, source-cited figure to work from.
What this is not
The factors are national averages published for voluntary organisational reporting. They take no account of your liveweights, productivity, soils, region or management practice, and the Ministry revises them each year. Any recognised farm-level programme will use its own approved methodology and will produce a different number. Treat this as an indicative starting point, not a farm inventory, and not financial, legal or tax advice.