New Zealand plans to tax agricultural emissions including those related to the burps, urine and dung from livestock like cows and sheep in a move its government hopes will help the country meet climate change goals.

The aim is for the "agricultural emissions-pricing system" to come into force in 2025. A consultation looking at how levies are set, transition assistance and sequestration which the document defines as "the process of removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere" was launched this week, and will run until Nov. 18.

The government said revenue from the levy would be "recycled back into [the] agriculture sector through new technology, research and incentive payments to farmers."

The idea of introducing such a system by the middle of this decade was contained within an emissions reduction plan published in May 2022, as well as a recommendation published in June by the He Waka Eke Noa Primary Sector Climate Action Partnership.

In a statement Tuesday, New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern backed the plans. "This is an important step forward in New Zealand's transition to a low emissions future and delivers on our promise to price agriculture emissions from 2025," she said.

"No other country in the world has yet developed a system for pricing and reducing agricultural emissions, so our farmers are set to benefit from being first movers," Ardern went on to say.

Agriculture plays a major role in New Zealand's economy, including exports, but it accounts for a considerable chunk of the country's emissions.

In the consultation document, authorities said greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane were responsible for more than half of New Zealand's gross emissions.

According to the document,carbon dioxide stems from urea, while nitrous oxide comes from livestock dung and urine. Methane is emitted through belching and, to a lesser extent, gas.

While the plans have the backing of figures such as Ardern, they have not been universally welcomed. On Tuesday, Federated Farmers of New Zealand reacted furiously to the government's proposals, stating that they would "rip the guts out of small town New Zealand."

Others reacting to the news included Andrew Morrison, the chairman of Beef+Lamb New Zealand, who focused on the issue of sequestration.

"We need to further analyse these changes carefully, but one area of immediate concern is the proposed changes to sequestration, which is of real importance to sheep and beef farmers," he said.

"We know we have a role to play in addressing climate change and our farmers are among the first to feel the effects of it," Morrison added.

"However, if farmers are to face a price for their agricultural emissions from 2025, it is vital they get proper recognition for the genuine sequestration happening on their farms."

In an email to farmers, Morrison and Sam McIvor, the organization's CEO, offered more insight into their views on the plans. "New Zealand is the first country in the world to look to put a price on agricultural emissions," they said.

"While we recognise our role in reducing emissions, we are one of the most carbon efficient producers in the world and we will not accept a system that disproportionately puts our farmers and communities at risk," they added.

The former CEO of Walmart U.S. left the $300 billion retailer to lead Air New Zealand. Just days in, business screeched to a halt: We went from doing…

Posted: at 4:53 pm

Greg Forans decision in 2019 tostep down as CEOof Walmarts $300 billion-a-year U.S. business and lead Air New Zealand took retail industry observers by surprise. After all, Foran is credited with revitalizing Walmarts massive fleet of 4,500 stores and adapting them to e-commerce. Why would he walk away from one of the most prominent jobs in retail, and what did he know about running a small airline anyway?

After eight years in the U.S. and China, Foran was ready to return to his home country of New Zealand and was drawn to the opportunity to be a CEO with no one above him (Walmart U.S.s CEO reports to the CEO of Walmart Inc.). While Foran acknowledges a large difference between running a gigantic retailer and a national air carrier, he says there are common threads.

He was only a few days into his job as the airlines CEO in February 2020 when the pandemic hit, forcing him to tap many of the skills he developed at Walmart U.S. CEO and map out the airlines revitalization plan. Its similar to the playbook I had at Walmart U.S., which was similar to the one I had in China, which was similar to the one at Woolworths, Foran tellsFortune, referring to the giant retailer down under. Youve got to decide what kind of culture you want the business to operate in, he says. More importantly, Youve got to be great at the basics.

With air travel stalled, Foran set about devising a plan to reinvent the airline, focusing on dominating select routes, building more market share in its home country, and improving customer service.

But even with air travel back in full swing, the leadership tests keep coming: Air New Zealand recently started its long-desired direct New York-Auckland route, a service at the center of Forans ambitions for the company. But a few days after his interview withFortune, the airline already had toreduce the number of passengersand bags it allows on those flights to carry more fuel.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Fortune: Air New Zealand recently had its inaugural nearly 18-hour New York-Auckland direct flight. Why is this so crucial to your plans for the airline?

Foran: North Americas a great market for us. Weve been coming to the U.S. for 50 years. It started in L.A., then Houston began a few years ago, and Chicago not long before COVID started. As we looked at the plane fleet, it made sense to fly to New York since we can now make it directly from Auckland to the East Coast. One of the things people sometimes dont realize is New Zealands about two and a half hours closer to America than Australia is, and thats a competitive advantage.

You seem to be banking on New Zealands growing attraction as a business center and not just tourism.

New Zealand could offer itself as a wonderful alternative environment for startups. I hope that happens, though tourism will probably be the lead edge.

When you took over in February 2020, some of your Asian destinations were already closing. Within five weeks, America and Europe locked down, too, forcing Air New Zealand to shut down entirely for weeks. Walk us through that experience as a rookie at the company.

On the first day I started, a Monday, we stopped flying to Shanghai. The following Monday, we stopped flying to Korea; the following Monday, we stopped flying to Tokyo. On the following Monday, we stopped flying to Hong Kong. Then six weeks later, about the 24th of March, business stopped entirely, so we went from doing $100 million a week to nothing. There was a rule book from what happened on 9/11, from when we hit SARS (2003), from when we hit bird flu (2007). But then you get to the 24th of March and have to put the book away. We needed to rewrite the rules.

You still didnt know how the airline industry nor the company worked. Whose outside counsel did you seek?

Within the industry, there are some excellent, experienced, wise people. So I called friends. And when youre trying to learn it quickly, theres a lot of value in chatting with Willie Walsh, who ran British Airways (Walsh is currently head of the industry group International Air Transport Association), and Aer Lingus. Theres another chap in Australia called Rod Eddington (an alumnus of British Airways and Cathay Pacific.) So I rang Rod, and I said, Help me. What do I do?

So how did you go about your job during that time, and what were your priorities?

I took the playbook I had at Walmart, which was very similar to the one I had in China, which was similar to Woolworths. Youve first got to decide what sort of culture you want the business to operate in, and youve got to be able to demonstrate that through your actions and behaviors. Once youve got that reasonably clear in your head, you then need to plan. The plan for us was simple: grow our domestic business and get about 85% market share (from about 80% now.) Its a good business, and its profitable. And then we also work to optimize our international business. That means dont try and fly everywhere; pick where you want to fly, and optimize that. Youve got to be brilliant at the basics: the planes should leave on time and arrive on time.

New Zealand is a country of 5 million people, a small market. How does a relatively small national airline like yours create a need for itself?

You carve out a niche and drive market share in that particular niche. Dont think about Air New Zealand as an airline that does $6 billion a year and goes up against United, Delta, British Airways, and all the others that do 10 times our turnover. The relevant question is, What is your market share in New Zealand? Whats your market share on the Auckland-New York route?

What made you take the job?

I dont live life in isolation. I have a wife and children, and she has a say in what Im going to do and where I will go. A bit of my thinking was also that it might be time to hand that job on to the next person to let them have a shot. I dont believe that you have these jobs for life or that you should. And I was quite keen to see what would happen if I tried something different. You know, Ive been 14 years in retail. So, how transferable are those skills?

So how transferable are they?

While its helpful to have all the technical knowledge about whether that planes a 787 or a 747, or whether those are GE engines or another kind, you can learn them quite rapidly. Learning culture is not something you do in five minutes but is an entirely transferable skill. Knowing how to build a strategy is also transferrable. Its helpful to have some technical background, but you dont have to have all of that in your toolbox.

What else did you take from your turnaround of Walmart to Air New Zealand?

One thing that happens in airlines, which is a bit similar to what happens in retail, is that you create silos when you create teams. For instance, people in merchandising might concentrate nearly all their attention on that and become very good. But theyre not all that interested in ensuring the distribution centers run smoothly, and vice versa.

How does it translate for airlines?

Airlines are a bit the same. Theyll be keen on the revenue side of the business to sell as many tickets as possible, but how much consideration do they give to the fleet team responsible for maintaining the airplanes? Because if Im now flying more, Ive got more maintenance. What if I dont have all those planes available because Ive got four of them in the hangar that I have to do engine checks for? So were rewiring Air New Zealand. Now we have what we call tribes, which are cross-functional and responsible for integrated planning.

Get to know Foran:

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The former CEO of Walmart U.S. left the $300 billion retailer to lead Air New Zealand. Just days in, business screeched to a halt: We went from doing...

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Has the Vatican forgotten to replace New Zealands bishops? – The Pillar

Posted: at 4:53 pm

Has the Vatican forgotten to replace New Zealands bishops?

You can see why it might have slipped Vatican officials minds. New Zealand is not exactly in the Holy Sees neighborhood, after all: it takes a full day to fly from Rome to Wellington, the capital of the island country that lies in the Pacific Ocean.

Also, there are barely half a million Catholics in New Zealand out of a total population of five million. The country ranks in 96th place in the list of nations with the greatest number of Catholics, behind Japan and Russia.

The number of baptized is shrinking, while secularism gains ground. Around a third of New Zealanders described themselves as having no religion in 2006. By 2018, that had risen to almost half.

So, the Vatican might not regard filling New Zealands vacant dioceses as an urgent priority.

Two of the six Catholic dioceses in the country are currently vacant. One, the Diocese of Hamilton, has lacked a bishop for almost a year. The other, the Diocese of Palmerston North, has been leaderless for more than three years.

The Pillar spoke with clergy in New Zealand about possible reasons for the delay. They asked to remain anonymous given the small, tight-knit nature of the local Catholic community.

The two dioceses awaiting bishops are both located on New Zealands North Island, where the majority of the population lives. Indeed, they are neighboring dioceses. They also serve similar numbers of Catholics: around 70,000 in the Diocese of Hamilton and roughly 64,000 in the Diocese of Palmerston North.

But local clergy saw no significance in this geographical proximity as the two dioceses have never been connected. The territory covered by the Diocese of Hamilton belonged to the Diocese of Auckland until 1980, while the Diocese of Palmerston North was part of the Archdiocese of Wellington until that year.

While Hamilton diocese covers several larger cities, Palmerston North is more rural. They have other differences too.

Hamilton diocese has experienced less turbulence than its neighbor. The diocese has had a total of three bishops. The first, Bishop Edward Gaines, governed for 14 years, until his death in 1994. The diocese was then overseen for 20 years by Bishop Denis Browne, who retired in 2014 at the age of 77. He was replaced that year by Bishop Stephen Lowe, who was appointed bishop of Auckland on Dec. 17, 2021. Lowe is currently serving as apostolic administrator of Hamilton diocese as it awaits a new bishop.

Palmerston North has had only two bishops in its 42-year history. Bishop Peter Cullinane led the new diocese for 32 years until his retirement in 2012. He was succeeded that year by Bishop Charles Drennan, who resigned on Oct. 4, 2019, at the age of 59. Cardinal John Dew of Wellington is serving as apostolic administrator until the appointment of a new bishop.

A local priest said that Bishop Drennans resignation was a complex process. Church authorities announced in 2019 that a young woman had accused the bishop of unacceptable behaviour of a sexual nature. The complaint triggered a Vos estis probe under the oversight of Cardinal Dew, the metropolitan archbishop. Following the investigation, Bishop Drennan submitted his resignation to the pope.

Cardinal Dew said at the time that the young woman had asked that the details of her complaint remain private, but he emphasized that in the eyes of the Catholic Church, Bishop Drennans behavior was completely unacceptable.

Drennan was ordered to move out of the diocese and to cease public ministry, but remains a bishop. Local clergy said it was some time after his resignation that he relocated which might have delayed the process of finding his successor.

Outside observers of Palmerston North diocese said that the local Church had fared surprisingly well without a bishop for the past three years. But there are certain decisions that must wait until the arrival of a new bishop.

I would say that the group that suffers the most in all of this is probably the diocesan team, because they sort of work for the bishop, a local priest said. Theyre his people who do his bidding. And I would say of everybody, theyre a little bit lost.

Catholicism only arrived in New Zealand in 1838, brought by French missionaries. To this day, the countrys episcopal appointments are overseen by the successor body to Propaganda Fide, which is responsible for the Churchs mission territories.

While the Dicastery for Bishops is the principal Vatican department involved in the selection of bishops in Europe and North America, it is the former Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples (now incorporated into the Dicastery for Evangelization) that takes charge of the process in New Zealand.

Could this be a reason for the delay? It seems unlikely. The department led by Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle is considered to be adequately staffed and fairly efficient.

But the department doesnt handle bishops appointments by itself. It cooperates with the Vatican Secretariat of State, the powerful body at the heart of the Roman curia. Its possible that this interaction could slow the process down, but there is no evidence to suggest this is the case.

What if the problem instead is that New Zealand lacks suitable episcopal candidates?

Like other countries in the Western world, New Zealand has experienced a priestly vocations crisis. The national seminary Holy Cross Seminary in Auckland currently has 13 students in residence and two on placements. The candidates come not only from New Zealand, but also Vietnam, Hong Kong, the Philippines, America, and Tonga.

A priest belonging to a religious order told The Pillar that he could easily name five good candidates for the vacant sees. He argued that the problem was not the availability of candidates, but rather the criteria by which they are chosen, which he felt were outmoded.

He said he had been asked to fill in forms about potential bishops which asked questions such as whether there was any reason in the candidates family that would cause scandal to the Church.

Were looking for these men who are pluperfect, he said.

A diocesan priest commented: The model still looks for men who are able to be subservient, and at the same time almost be careerists. And so it becomes a sort of oxymoron that youre looking for.

Since 2019, the Tanzanian Archbishop Novatus Rugambwa has served as apostolic nuncio to New Zealand. He is also the nuncio for a dizzying array of other territories, including Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa.

He has overseen some significant appointments, such as Bishop Lowes move to Auckland and Bishop Paul Martins nomination as coadjutor archbishop of Wellington in 2021, and Bishop Michael Gielens transfer to Christchurch in May this year. But these involved previously ordained bishops.

Nuncios often collaborate with a countrys bishops to draw up lists of suitable candidates for vacant sees. Priests speculated that a reason for the delay in appointments in New Zealand could be the relationship between the nuncio and the bishops. They suggested that they might have different visions of Church and find it hard to converge on candidates.

At his installation Mass in Auckland in March, Bishop Lowe thanked Archbishop Rugambwa for his presence.

Can I please ask you to work hard to find a great bishop for Hamilton? I think Palmerston North and Christchurch are looking for one too, he remarked, to laughter in the congregation.

There was nothing in the light-hearted comment to suggest there was a gulf between the nuncio and the bishops. But it did imply that the lack of new bishops is weighing on Church leaders minds.

Archbishop Rugambwa had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.

One option the Vatican might consider is uniting the Hamilton and Palmerston North dioceses under one bishop without merging them. This process, known as linking dioceses in persona episcopi, has been used in recent years in Canada, Ireland, Italy, Spain, and Wales.

That might be an attractive prospect in New Zealand as it would only require the recruitment of one bishop to oversee the two currently vacant dioceses. As the dioceses would not be merged, it arguably would not matter that they have never been linked before.

Or the Vatican could simply stick to the traditional process and appoint two new bishops when it was confident it had found suitable candidates. When that might be is anyones guess.

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Has the Vatican forgotten to replace New Zealands bishops? - The Pillar

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The former CEO of Walmart U.S. left the $300 billion retailer to lead Air New Zealand. Just days in, business screeched to a halt: We went from doing…

Has the Vatican forgotten to replace New Zealands bishops? – The Pillar

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