20 October 2025
OIAD-1785
Megan Kedzlie
[FYI request #32541 email]
Tēnā koe Megan
Thank you for your request under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act) of the Ministry
for the Environment (the Ministry).
The Ministry received 21,351 submissions on the 2022 "Pricing Agricultural Emissions"
consultation, as summarised i
n: https://environment.govt.nz/assets/OIA/Files/OIAD-1186/15-
CAB-358-Agricultural-Greenhouse-Gas-Emissions-Reporting-and-Levy-System_-Final-
Policy-Decisions.pdf. These submissions consisted of the following:
• 1,415 Citizen Space questionnaire responses, which were recorded in a Microsoft
Excel spreadsheet.
o 1,255 respondents consented to their submission being published.
o 160 respondents did not consent to their submission being published.
o 301 respondents also uploaded supporting documentation.
• 1,024 unique submissions provided via email.
• 28 in-person or online meetings (meeting notes were coded and analysed alongside
online submissions).
• 18,884 form submissions:
o 11,909 Groundswell NZ submissions.
o 4,316 signatures on Greenpeace’s petition, which can be accessed at:
https://www.greenpeace.org/aotearoa/publication/ag-pricing-submission/.
o 2,324 Beef + Lamb New Zealand submissions (including 1,050 that contain
unique content).
o 284 Federated Farmers of New Zealand submissions.
o 25 Federation of Māori Authorities submissions.
o 18 Rangitikei River Catchment Collective submissions.
o 14 emails using other form submissions.
The Ministry is able to reasonably assess in response to your request:
• one copy of each unique form submission
• a database of 1,255 Citizen Space responses where consent was provided to publish
• information about and feedback from the 28 meetings.
I consider that the following categories of information cannot be assessed for release without
substantial collation on the Ministry’s part, which would unreasonably interfere with the
operations of the department:
PO Box 10362, Wellington 6143 | Freephone 0800 499 700 | environment.govt.nz
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• 160 Citizen Space questionnaire responses where the respondent did not provide
consent to publish. We would need to consult with each respondent and individually
assess each response to identify any personal or commercially sensitive information.
• 301 instances of supporting documentation for Citizen Space questionnaire
responses. These are not stored in the spreadsheet.
• 1,024 unique submissions provided via email.
• 1,050 Beef + Lamb submissions with unique content.
As such, I would need to decline these parts of your request under section 18(f) of the Act as
the information requested cannot be made available without substantial collation or research.
I therefore invite you to refine your request as it relates to these categories of information and
I am happy to support you to do this. Some suggestions, which are not mutually exclusive and
you are not bound to, include:
• responses that cite particular keyword(s)
• responses from particular organisation(s).
Please note that the Ministry may still need to seek further refinement of or decline your
request as it relates to these categories of information under section 18(f) of the Act if your
refinement does not reduce the quantity of information to a manageable level.
Please advise on the above by 5pm on Friday 24 October.
Nāku noa, nā
Lachlan Brown
Team Leader – Official Information and Proactive Release
Ministry for the Environment | Manatū Mō Te Taiao
PO Box 10362, Wellington 6143 | Freephone 0800 499 700 | environment.govt.nz
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