Synthetic nitrogen – further analysis

During our 2021 consultation on our draft advice (which later became Ināia tonu nei), we received submissions asking us to look at synthetic nitrogen use in more detail. We took that feedback on board and carried out further analysis.

Our analysis showed that drastically reducing synthetic nitrogen would lower emissions – but we could not be sure what the impact of this sort of sudden change would mean for people, and whether many farms would continue to be viable. Our agricultural sector, our economy, and all the communities and households that would be impacted must be supported through these sorts of big changes.

In our 2021 final report, Ināia tonu nei, we made recommendations around changing farm practices – this could be changing stock levels, reducing supplementary feed and reducing synthetic nitrogen fertiliser.

We considered synthetic nitrogen in our subsequent 2022 report on progress towards pricing agricultural emissions, and in our advice on emissions budgets.