Farmer and climate science researcher Peter Foster wrote Groundswell NZ's official response to the findings of the Government's Methane Review Panel.

Below is the executive summary from his report and a button to download the full report in PDF.

Executive summary

The science of methane has for decades been subject to political interference in order to meet the objectives of the IPCC and UNFCCC.

The Coalition review offered the opportunity to correct major misconceptions about methane and to put science back in the driving seat.

The methane review panel failed to meet the objectives set by the Minister.

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Summary of findings:

1. Global Warming Potential (GWP) is not science based and should be discarded.
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2. Warming caused by methane should have been the focus, not emissions.
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3. Warming from doubling methane ranges from 0.06 K to 0.2 °C. Over a doubling time of 250 years gives an increase of < 0.08°C/century
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4. NZ livestock are responsible for 3 to 4 thousandths of a degree over 100 years. This is a thousand times smaller than the margin of error in temperature readings. Warming from NZ livestock therefore approximates to zero.
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5. Oceans cannot be warmed by back radiation from greenhouse gases. The claim by the Panel that NZ methane emissions warmed the ocean is not supported by the peer reveiwed literature.
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6. The increase in global methane has not been caused by NZ livestock. NZ should not try to compensate for methane produced elsewhere. It will have no effect on global methane but will totally destroy our agricultural industry.
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7. The claim that oxidation of methane causes an increase in other GHG’s is grossly overstated.
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8. The IPCC approach treats all GHGs released as a increasing global GHGs with the effect remaining for the lifetime and beyond of that molecule. The reality is that 99.5% of GHGs released into the atmosphere are merely replacing a GHG that has been oxidised (methane) or used in photosynthesis (CO2). 99.5% of GHGs do not cause any increase in GHG concentration and therefore have no effect on warming the planet.
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9. The climate models of the IPCC are not fit for purpose.

The opportunity the panel had to revert to good science was squandered and lost. This will be to the detriment of Farmers, New Zealand and the world. NZ could have led a demand to the IPCC to get its politics out of science.

Policy must be based on good science, the review panel forsook that in order to uphold the ideology of the IPCC.