Carbon emissions reporting doesn’t need to be a headache: Here’s how to improve it – Sally Rutherford

For farmers, there should be a strong focus on making carbon reporting as easy as possible, Sally Rutherford argues. Photo / Sally Round, RNZ

Opinion

Sally Rutherford is a product delivery manager at farm finance management platform Farm Focus.

OPINION

Carbon emissions reporting has been a major talking point in recent years amid the prospect of changing local legislation.

It’s still unclear where this might land, but the farming community is already well on track when it comes to keeping a record of their emissions. Much of this is being driven by international market forces.

A recent report by Chapman Tripp indicated more than 80% of all exports from New Zealand were going to countries that already had or had proposed mandatory carbon emissions reporting requirements.

The report said more than 60% of world GDP was now subject to mandatory climate-related disclosures.

These reporting requirements are setting clear benchmarks for businesses that want to participate in the global marketplace.

The demands of international customers are changing and farmers and growers in New Zealand have been responding to ensure their produce remains among the most desirable in the world.

This process isn’t slowing down any time soon, with climate change still front and centre for companies and countries around the world.

The biggest businesses in the world today have ambitious sustainability goals – and these objectives also apply to the suppliers they choose to work with.

New Zealand’s farming community is abundantly aware of what’s required of us because we are already doing business in this rapidly evolving market every day.

Green loans

Locally, emissions reporting is being driven by banks and processors. Further to this, we are seeing the emergence of “green loans” to incentivise sustainable practices and tools.

While it may be good news that agricultural emissions are being kept out of the Emissions Trading Scheme, the absence of a centralised methodology or calculation is increasing the complexity and adding to the uncertainty around this reporting.

This additional pressure is something our food producers do not need during these challenging times.

The team at Farm Focus have been working hard behind the scenes to ensure this reporting is part of their normal business practice so it doesn’t become burdensome.

We know farmers and growers already have so much on their plates.

Adapting to the changes we’re seeing across the sector doesn’t have to be a difficult process. The onus here is on the broader sector to help farmers and growers where we can.

We need to see more collaboration across the industry to ensure data flows as swiftly and seamlessly as possible. Every hiccup, delay or inconsistency ultimately lands on our food producers, making their jobs a little harder.

At Farm Focus, we’re big proponents of data-sharing across software providers to ensure the right information is always accessible to key stakeholders.

This will help to remove the element of surprise and create better benchmarks that farmers can more easily adhere to.

Technology should, by design, always reduce the resistance on the path to the desired destination. Agritech is no different.

And while there is some confusion with carbon emissions reporting, the priority across the sector must remain laser-focused on making this process as easy as possible for farmers.