It’s the world’s first carbon tax on livestock: gas emissions cost farmers €90 a year.

First experience in Denmark. Farmers say it was a “terrible experience”.

Dairy farmers in Denmark have to pay an annual tax of 672 kroner (90 euros) per cow because of the greenhouse gas emissions they create.

The country’s coalition government agreed this week to introduce the world’s first tax on carbon emissions from agriculture. From 2030, a new tax will be levied on cattle.

Denmark is a major exporter of dairy products and pork, and agriculture is the country’s largest source of emissions. The alliance’s agreement – which also includes investing 40 billion kroner (5.4 billion euros) in measures such as reforestation and the creation of wetlands – aims to help the country meet its climate goals.

“With today’s agreement, we are investing billions in the biggest transformation of the Danish landscape in recent times,” Foreign Minister Lars Lok Rasmussen said in a statement on Tuesday. “At the same time, we will be the first country in the world to impose a (carbon) tax on agriculture.”

The Danish dairy industry welcomed the agreement and its aims, but it angered some farmers.

The move comes months after farmers staged protests across Europe, including filling the European Parliament with eggs and blocking roads with tractors, over a long list of complaints about environmental regulations and excessive bureaucracy.

The global food system contributes greatly to the climate crisis, producing around One in three Green house gas emissions.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, livestock farming has a particularly large impact, accounting for about 12% of global emissions in 2015. Some of this pollution comes from methane, a powerful planet-warming gas produced by cows and other animals through their burps, exhaust gases and manure.

Reduce emissions from animal husbandry

The rate, which is expected to be approved by the Danish parliament later this year, would increase CO2-equivalent emissions from livestock farming to 300 kroner (40 euros) per tonne from 2030, rising to 750 kroner (100 euros) in 2035.

A 60% tax cut will be applied, meaning farmers will be charged 120 crowns ($16) per ton of livestock emissions per year from 2030, rising to 300 crowns (40 euros) in 2035.

On average, Danish dairy cows, which make up a large part of the livestock population, emit 5.6 tonnes of CO2 per year, according to Denmark’s environmental think tank Consito. Using the lower tax rate of 120 kroner, that’s 672 kroner per cow, or 90 euros.

This rate will increase to 1,680 kroner per cow in 2035 (€225) as the tax credit is in effect.

In the first two years, the tax revenue will be used to support the environmental transformation of the agricultural sector and will be reassessed later.

“The purpose of the tax is to incentivize the industry to look for solutions to reduce emissions,” Dorsten Hasford, chief economist at Consito, told CNN. For example, farmers can change the feed they use.

But Danish farmers’ group Bæredygtigt Landbrug said the measures were a “frightening experience”.

“We believe the agreement is pure bureaucracy,” President Peter Kier said in a statement. “We recognize that there is a climate problem… but we don’t believe this deal will solve the problems because it will grind the gears of green investments in agriculture.”

Peder Tuborgh, chief executive of Arla Foods, Europe’s biggest dairy group, said the deal was “positive” but that farmers “who are really doing everything they can to reduce emissions” should not be subject to the tax.

“The tax base of a tax is based solely on emissions (on carbon) and there are ways to remove them,” he added in a statement.

Christian Hundebol, managing director of DLG Group, one of Europe’s largest agricultural companies and a co-operative of 25,000 Danish farmers, said the tax being “anchored” in EU law was “crucial for competitiveness”. “None of the climate, agriculture or related industries will benefit from Denmark acting unilaterally,” he said.

Laura Pattison contributed to this article.