Farming union says ‘highly likely’ New Zealand imports would negatively affect UK net-zero | UK | News

Vice-President of the National Farmers’ Union, Tom Bradshaw, told Express.co.uk the UK Government should consider the “embedded carbon” of a product following the recently announced New Zealand trade deal. The farming boss explained the importation of goods from across the world is “likely” to have a negative impact on the UK’s net-zero strategy despite the UK Government championing the deal. Mr Bradshaw was concerned the deal could cause havoc for British farmers, arguing the benefits were relatively “minor” to the risks involved.

Speaking to Express.co.uk, Mr Bradshaw was asked how the deal could affect the UK’s 2050 net-zero target as the UK would now increase its importation of New Zealand’s agricultural products, like lamb and fruit.

He explained: “Well, clearly New Zealand is a country which is situated some 11,000 miles away.

“And so I think it’s really important we look at the embedded carbon within a product when we’re importing it.

“So the carbon contained within that product, we’re importing the footprint of it.

“So if a product genuinely has a lower footprint in the UK because of the climate or something like that, then obviously it could lower the carbon footprint.

“But with all the energy costs of transport costs, it’s highly likely that any imports from that distance are going to have a carbon impact, which we could lower by sourcing it from the UK.”

But while Mr Bradshaw and his fellow NFU members were worried about the deal negatively impacting British farmers, he did offer his solution which could lessen the impact.

He explained both New Zealand and the UK have seasonal farming which are at different times to each other and the two sides could massively benefit if seasonal imports were capitalised on. 

As part of the deal, tariffs will be removed from clothing, ships, bulldozers and New Zealand agriculture good.

Red tape will also be slashed so professionals will be able to work in New Zealand more easily.

However, the impact on the UK’s economy has been challenged by analysts after it was pointed out the UK only conducts 0.2 percent of its trade with New Zealand.

The Department of International Trade (DIT), who are championing the deal, said in its own analysis that the deal would have a “limited effect” on the UK GDP over the next 15 years.

They forecast it could have an impact as low as 0.01 percent to -0.01 percent.