The country's biggest greenhouse gas emitter - the agriculture industry - has been offered an escape route in a climate change discussion document released today.
The Government has laid out three possible targets to reduce emissions, one of which sets softer targets for methane emitted by animals, while cutting carbon dioxide from other sectors to zero.
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A jubilant James Shaw outlined his ambitious plans for New Zealand on Thursday, confidently saying the country would "make climate change history".
The Climate Change Minister has given the public three targets to consider - but one has no goal for reducing methane, our biggest source of climate pollution.
Greenpeace is stunned, calling it "a cop-out".
All three pathways outline a "net-zero" target, meaning the amount you pollute must be offset by, for example, planting trees.
The first option to reduce emissions by 2050 is to be net-zero in carbon dioxide - there's no mention of methane at all.
The second is to be net-zero in all emissions. The third is to be net-zero in carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide and to stabilise methane.
Kate Simcock, Greenpeace's climate campaigner, says methane reduction needs to be a priority.
"Methane's a shorter lived gas, but it's also our most potent and in New Zealand it's our biggest source of climate emissions, so we really need to work out how to tackle it."
But farmers say because methane doesn't linger in the atmosphere as long as the carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide spewed out by cars, it's less of a problem.
The minister says he doesn't have a preference for which target is adopted, and wanted to give the public options to choose from.
Just how ambitious New Zealand's target ends up being will be decided after public consultation wraps up in six weeks.
Newshub.
