Audrey Young: A significantly good day for the Government

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern with Climate Change Minister James Shaw, left, and Beef + Lamb chairman Andrew Morrison at today's launch. Photo / Marty Melville

The Prime Minister looked like the cat that got the cream at this morning's announcement about putting agriculture into (or out of) the Emissions Trading Scheme.

She was entitled to do so, not least because the agriculture sector was singing the praises of her Government for its pragmatism.

And because the outcome is a credible plan.

The accord reached between the Government and the agriculture sector over its emissions is a sensible way forward in a policy area that has been afflicted with uncertainty for too long.

It is pay-day for the patient Climate Change Minister James Shaw, who has withstood barbs from his own Green tribe in the longer-term interest of getting a policy that will endure.

The so-called partnership between the Government and the sector makes that enduring policy more likely, and with such wide sector support, it blunts National's targets for attack.

It is a significantly good day for the Government.

The agreement will see legislation introduced to Parliament by Shaw today that will put agriculture emissions in the ETS in 2025 – but which could be reversed if the sector shows it reducing emissions at a satisfactory pace before then without having to go into the ETS.

The live prospect of having to pay for emissions farm by farm under the ETS in 2025 creates a strong incentive for the sector to intensify its work on developing tools to monitor and reduce biogenic methane emissions.

An even bigger stick is that if a pending review in 2022 by the soon-to-be-created Climate Change Commission finds there is not enough progress, the agriculture sector could be brought in earlier to ETS at the processor level - which means those large dairy and fertiliser processing companies.

But essentially the sector, as represented by 11 participating groups including Federated Farmers, is embracing the partnership more as carrot than stick.

The Government has shown good will.

It accepted the need to separate out the targets for agriculture's short-lived biologic methane from other long-lived greenhouse gas emissions.

It accepted the sector's claim that it is too soon to start charging for emissions when the technology to monitor and reduce emissions is still being developed.

It accepted the sector's own five-year action plan to reduce and mitigate emissions.

But just to be sure the partnership is not based entirely on good will, it will put incentives and disincentives in law.

Those hell-bent on penalising and demonising the farming sector will be disappointed that the Government didn't immediately start charging farmers – and helped to create a sense of chaos and division that would help National.

Today's collaborative outcome means the money that would have been charged will be better used to develop ways to reduce emissions.

You can almost hear the purring from the Beehive.