Hey Federated Farmers climate change is real
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10:22 am, July 22nd, 2025 - 9 comments
Categories: Christopher Luxon, climate change, ETS, national, nz first, same old national, science -
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This strange story popped up on Radio New Zealand recently.
Some local banks have joined the Net Zero Banking Alliance. This is a UN supported global member-led initiative supporting banks to lead on climate mitigation in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement. It promotes banks to give cheaper interest rates to clients who meet greenhouse gas reduction targets.
There is a very strong business imperative for this. Banks have huge amounts of money lent out in areas facing climate change devastation. Just think of any low lying area with houses and mortgages that will become valueless if the sea level rises. If we fail to address climate change then local housing markets are going to crash and the banks as well as the owners are going to wear it.
But Federated Farmers took umbrage at the Banks and complained to the Commerce Commission, accusing the Banks of engaging in cartel type activity.
According to their spokesperson Richard McIntyre it was just woke virtue signalling.
McIntyre said this in this RNZ article:
“Is this really the bank’s place to be setting emissions reduction targets for various industries or farmers in general? What actually gives them the right or need to do that?
“I would argue that there’s a question of sovereignty here, when we’ve got this effective group of banks that have signed an agreement overseas and are inflicting upon New Zealand’s most productive sectors.”
Clearly elements within Federated Farmers think that the farming sector should be immune from any measures addressing climate change. Their logic is pretty wonky. I cannot think of a sector that depends more on the environment than the farming sector.
The Commerce Commission has dismissed the complaint. Good call.
But this sort of rhetoric pops up all the time.
NZ First has a private member’s bill that would prevent the closing of customers’ bank accounts based on “murky ‘environmental, social or governance’ [ESG] moralising”.
And earlier this year Prime Minister Christopher Luxon criticised banks for thinking of withdrawing support for petrol stations and coal mines.
From Thomas Coughlan at the Herald:
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon fired a salvo at the chief executives of New Zealand’s largest banks saying it was “utterly unacceptable” that some were withdrawing banking services from businesses like petrol stations and mines. He made the remarks at the same time as delivering a spirited defence of staying in the Paris climate agreement.
He repeated that this was “unacceptable” four times in his remarks, which were made during his weekly interview on Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking Breakfast.
“I don’t know how much clearer we can be, but certainly we’re losing a lot of patience,” Luxon said.
“If the CEOs are hearing me right now we are incredibly frustrated about it, go back and think about it.”
It takes some skill to defend continued investment into petrol stations and coal mines while at the same time as wanting to stay in the Paris Climate agreement.
Any rational responsible leader would be doing everything to accelerate the transition to sustainable energy sourced transport and would be leaving coal in the ground.
Luxon’s commitment to stay in the Paris Accord is hard to understand given his Government’s continuous undermining of policies that will actually make a difference to our emissions.
And this failure means that there will be a significant hole in the country’s finances because we will be forced to source rather expensive International credits.
RNZ also talks about Treasury not knowing whether to recognise the cost of meeting Paris – estimated at up to $24 billion – as a liability on the government’s books. Which is something that would both focus the mind and act as a clear financial incentive for emissions reduction policies, effectively setting a government carbon price of $285/ton for policies to be measured against. But it would also blow all future surplus projections out of the water, which is another reason why Ministers really want to talk up uncertainty and won’t commit. And given what they did to pay equity to remove a liability half that size, uncertainty is probably the lesser of two evils at the moment.
But whether the government recognises that obligation or not, we will be paying regardless – if not under the international cooperation mechanism, then in cleaning up after floods and drought and fires and cyclones, plus the social costs of insurance retreat and sea-level rise. The Paris Agreement is meant to reduce those long-term costs. Refusing to meet it is just another example of the long-term problem of New Zealand governments: taking the cheap, short-term option, and refusing to invest for the future.
Federated Farmers and the Government need to get with the picture. Engaging in cultural war battles to please their base at a time when the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions has never been more evident is doing us all a disservice.
Including future generations who will never forgive us for our failure to address this most pressing of issues.
Good Post MS.
Re FedFarm….I have said before, that IMO, they are a Union, and a quite militant one at that. ( I use it considering the derogatory, even vicious attacks that have been hurled at for example, the Engineers Union, First Union, ETu etc etc…)
And all the moreso a concern, when we now have a very vocal and critical (environment protection) ex FarmFed head, now Act MP and Minister in the NACT1 govt.
I have linked this before…
Cant have those young minds being made aware…..of how their future might be decided..by others, not necessarily in their best interests : (
Also interesting is the Farmer content of NACT1….
There is much more…but someone else can have a go? (I have said and linked much more previously..)
Keep up the good work MS
Our insurance cartel has no qualms about pricing climate change risk onto farms.
Would be great to see NZSuperFund set a similarly strong position.
The government politicians are generating words while the institutions take the leadership:
Luxon is already becoming irrelevant.
Hey federated animal-fatteners..!
Not only have you/do you continue to fuck our environment…
..not only do you impose terrible cruelties on the animals you fatten for the flesh-addicts..
We are told that some of what you peddle actually is carcinogenic…(w t.f..!..eh..?…got anything to say about that..?.. federated -fatteners..?…
Hey federated -fatteners..!..fuck you..!..eh..?
IMHO…
(Would you like some bacon with that..?)
Hey federated fatteners..!..
..are you even aware that the recent cancer revelations about bacon/processed meats …is your American surgeon-general ciggy-cancer moment..?
IMHO .
(Explanation for younger readers:
Way back when pretty much everyone smoked ciggys…the American surgeon-general set in motion irresistible change for the tobacco pushers and for users…when he said it causes cancer . .
This moment now is an echo of that call…and for the same reasons .. namely..hey .!..stop doing that .!…it causes cancer..!
The Feds:
“Farms are just businesses. And businesses should be free from government overreach and guided by the market.”
Also the Feds:
“Wait, not like that. If the market responds to climate change, it’s woke and the government needs to stop it"
wonder how the farmers in Marlborough feel about FedFarmers position on climate change
Gorrrre…on
Gorrre-on
FedFarm militants in action…
Earlier…..which I had also linked to on The Standard
You…can help stop Chris Bishop and NACT1 fucking NZ's Freshwater
See my comment on Open Mike, 24 July.