The panel only met with two groups when it was preparing its findings. Photo: Supplied
Greenpeace is accusing a government climate panel of only listening to "vested interests" when preparing a major report into New Zealand's methane targets.
A government-appointed panel was asked to review the science of methane, which makes up 43 percent of New Zealand's emissions, according to government figures.
The review came about after heavy lobbying from farmer groups such as Federated Farmers and Groundswell, which opposes any form of price on farming's greenhouse gases.
The panel only met with two groups when it was preparing its findings, one of which was a group affiliated with Groundswell called the Methane Science Accord.
The group questions whether global heating is anything to worry about and says farmers are not measurably heating the planet.
"The panel is only listening to vested interests, including the most extremist elements of the farming sector," Greenpeace's Amanda Larsson said.
She said the panel "clearly lacked robust processes for properly gathering evidence and considering the diverse views of stakeholders."
Larsson questioned why the panel didn't meet with others who offered their time including the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment (PCE).
The PCE previously wrote a detailed report on the same topic the methane panel was considering.
However, the Methane Science Accord's Owen Jennings also criticised the process, despite having met the panel.
The former ACT MP told RNZ the panel did not seem to be listening and he believed it had made its mind up on the science of methane before the meeting.
He said he didn't believe the meeting had any influence on the panel's final report.
The Accord's written submission to the panel said methane's impact on the climate was "miniscule", there was insufficient evidence farmers were heating the planet and it was ridiculous to be concerned when Earth was in an ice age and "normal temperatures were 10C higher".
Greenpeace received details of submissions and the panel's meeting process under the Official Information Act.
Emails show the Methane Science Accord offered to meet the panel to present its views, "test" and give feedback on the panel's initial findings.
The PCE and others also offered to meet.
Over a dozen individual farmers made submissions, along with Greenpeace, Lawyers for Climate Action and others.
'Calendars did not allow'
The panel confirmed to RNZ that it met with only the Accord and a technology investor called Agrizero.
Asked why those two were selected, chair Nicola Shadbolt said the panel was not required to meet with stakeholders as part of its Terms of Reference.
"A process was provided, through the Ministry for Environment, where interested parties could submit relevant evidence.
"The meeting with Agrizero was requested early in the process, and was a courtesy call to understand the role of Agrizero in developing mitigation technologies," she said.
"The meeting with the methane science accord occurred due to the large number of submitters associated with the group and to clarify some aspects of their submission.
"An attempt was made to meet with the PCE, however calendars did not allow for this to happen. While the Panel received some additional requests from submitters to talk to their submission, the process allowed for submissions of evidence and not meeting with each submitter."
Larsson said Greenpeace only learned the panel was taking submissions by chance, because there was no public call for input.
The panel's secretariat told RNZ it had publicised the process via: "an invitation to submit evidence to the panel for consideration [being] made available on the Ministry for the Environment's website and featured in the August editions of the Ministry's e-newsletters."
What now?
The government still faces calls from farming lobby groups to change the country's methane target, which is currently to lower methane by 24 to 47 percent by 2050.
It also faces pressure on the opposite side to act more swiftly to slash methane, given New Zealand's unusually methane-heavy emissions profile and accelerating costs from climate change-fuelled weather disasters.
The costs of rising greenhouse gases include government relief for farmers impacted by droughts, which studies had shown were made worse by global heating.
The coalition faced criticism for "sidelining" its Climate Change Commission by setting up the methane panel.
Doing so was part of the National-NZ First coalition deal.
The Climate Change Commission concluded there was no justification for lowering the methane target, and no new methane science that would warrant a review.
That second point was backed by the PCE, who told the government it needed to make a call on what to do based on the merits because focusing on scientific debates was a "distraction."
The government gave its methane panel license to look at only one narrow question: what it would take to keep the heating from methane the same as it was in 2017.
The panel was not allowed to discussed the merits of different methane targets.
The methane panel concluded that cutting methane 14-15 percent by 2050 would stabilise the heating from New Zealand's cows and sheep at 2017 levels.
Yet stabilising heating from methane is a contentious goal - and while the government has hinted it will adopt it, it hasn't officially committed.
Adopting a target of 'no added warming' would not only lower the methane target, it also would mean other industries such as manufacturing and transport would need to cut their carbon dioxide emissions more steeply to meet the country's overall climate targets.
While top climate scientists had described aiming for 'no added warming' from farms as "problematic" it had strong support from other prominent scientists including methane panel member and climate scientist Dave Frame.
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