The banks and the financial system are becoming de facto enforcers of exactly the kind of unworkable emissions regulations that we voted against at the election, just when the Government is coming around on the facts about how agricultural emissions are a cycle and different to other industries.
Just like with the Farming Tax, unworkable and counterproductive regulations on farmers means higher food costs for everyone and doesn’t help the climate.
Pushed by mandatory disclosure regulations about their lending portfolios’ emissions profiles and then the policies of foreign groups like the Net-Zero Banking Alliance, banks are starting to demand emissions information from farmers, and we hear they’re denying farmers credit to keep their emissions profile down.
This is on top of rural lending interest rates running at a 2% premium to other lending, with no justification from increased risks or costs.
It’s time to tell the banks to back off, and Parliament’s inquiry into banking is just the place to do it.
Sign our petition calling on the inquiry to take action on the banking sector’s treatment of food producers and rural communities.
I call on Parliament's inquiry into banking to tell banks to back off on agricultural emissions, including: