Regional greenhouse gas emissions statistics include regional emissions by industry, households, and emissions intensity (emissions in relation to regional GDP). They are based on consistent classifications and concepts used in economic statistics.
Interactive tool to view regional summaries
How are my region’s emissions tracking? visually presents key measures of the 16 regional emissions profiles.
Key facts
Regional greenhouse gas emissions estimates for the year ended December 2025, compared with the year ended December 2024, show:
- total regional emissions decreased 2.5 percent, or 1,921 kilotonnes (kt), to 76,202 kt of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2-e)
- the largest decrease in emissions was in Taranaki, down 657 kt (12.4 percent), and the largest increase was in Canterbury, up 314 kt (2.5 percent)
- household emissions decreased 2.6 percent (212 kt), largely driven by lower emissions in household transport, down 2.2 percent (162 kt)
- industry emissions decreased 2.4 percent (1,709 kt), largely driven by lower emissions from electricity, gas, water, and waste services in Waikato, down 16.4 percent (560 kt) and Taranaki, down 23.0 percent (279 kt).
Total emissions by region
Total regional emissions decreased by 2.5 percent (1,921 kt) to 76,202 kt of CO2-e in 2025, compared with 2024.
The largest changes in total regional emissions in 2025, compared with 2024, were from:
- Taranaki, down 657 kt (12.4 percent)
- Waikato, down 571 kt (3.9 percent)
- Canterbury, up 314 kt (2.5 percent).
In 2025, Southland had the highest total emissions per capita at 58.9 tonnes of CO2-e per capita. Taranaki had the second highest at 35.7 tonnes of CO2-e per capita. Nelson had the lowest total emissions per capita at 5.7 tonnes of CO2-e per capita. Total emissions per capita (for all regions) were 14.3 tonnes of CO2-e per capita in 2025.
Total household emissions by region
Household emissions decreased across all regions in 2025, compared with 2024.
The largest changes in regional household emissions in 2025, compared with 2024, were from:
- Auckland, down 44 kt (1.8 percent)
- Bay of Plenty, down 26 kt (4.4 percent)
- Wellington, down 19 kt (2.8 percent)
- Canterbury, down 18 kt (1.7 percent).
| Region | Household emissions |
| Gisborne | -1 |
| West Coast | -2 |
| Nelson | -2 |
| Tasman | -4 |
| Taranaki | -7 |
| Southland | -8 |
| Marlborough | -8 |
| Otago | -11 |
| Northland | -14 |
| Hawke’s Bay | -15 |
| Manawatū-Whanganui | -16 |
| Waikato | -16 |
| Canterbury | -18 |
| Wellington | -19 |
| Bay of Plenty | -26 |
| Auckland | -44 |
Household emissions accounted for 10.5 percent of total regional emissions in 2025. Household transport emissions accounted for 89.0 percent of total household emissions. Heating and cooling contributed 8.1 percent, and ‘other’ (household sources) contributed 2.9 percent to total household emissions. Household transport emissions decreased by 162 kt CO₂-e (2.2 percent), compared with 2024.
Note: Household emissions consist of direct (production-based) emissions only.
The Auckland region is home to 34.1 percent of the population that emitted 2,326 kt (28.9 percent) of New Zealand’s household emissions in 2025. Household emissions in the Auckland region decreased 1.8 percent between 2024 and 2025, while the population increased 1.0 percent. As a result, household emissions per capita fell slightly, from 1.32 tonnes of CO2-e in 2024 to 1.28 tonnes in 2025.
Subnational population estimates: At 30 June 2025 has more information.
Total household emissions per capita (for all regions) were 1.5 tonnes of CO2-e per capita in 2025.
Household emissions per capita measure the average amount of household emissions per person in each region. They are calculated by dividing total household emissions by the region’s population, allowing comparisons across regions of different sizes.
The West Coast region recorded the highest household emissions per capita in 2025, at 2.4 tonnes of CO2-e per person. The region emitted 82 kt (1.0 percent) of New Zealand’s household emissions and made up 0.7 percent of New Zealand’s population in 2025.
The Waikato region had the second-highest household emissions per capita, at 2.2 tonnes of CO2-e per person. The region emitted 1,190 kt (14.8 percent) of New Zealand’s household emissions and made up 10.0 percent of New Zealand’s population.
Total industry emissions by region
Total industry emissions accounted for 89.5 percent of total regional emissions in 2025 and decreased by 2.4 percent (1,709 kt) to 68,164 kt, compared with 2024.
The largest changes in industry emissions in 2025, compared with 2024, were from:
- Taranaki, down 650 kt (12.7 percent), reflecting lower emissions across all industries
- Waikato, down 554 kt (4.2 percent), largely driven by lower emissions in electricity, gas, water, and waste services (down 560 kt)
- Canterbury, up 333 kt (2.9 percent), largely driven by higher emissions in agriculture, forestry, and fishing (up 326 kt).
Lower emissions from the electricity, gas, water, and waste services industry accounted for approximately half of the decrease in total industry emissions in 2025.
Electricity, gas, water, and waste services accounted for 9.2 percent of total regional industry emissions and decreased 11.8 percent in 2025.
In 2025:
- Waikato, the largest contributor, accounted for 45.5 percent (2,857 kt) of the industry emissions
- Taranaki was the second-largest contributor with 14.9 percent (935 kt).
Between 2024 and 2025, the largest decreases in emissions from this industry were in Waikato (560 kt), and Taranaki (279 kt).
In 2025, New Zealand increased electricity generation from renewable sources such as hydro, geothermal and solar, reducing the need for coal and gas-fired generation, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment reported in Electricity statistics. This contributed to lower emissions from the electricity generation and gas supply industry.
Emissions associated with electricity generation are allocated to the region where the electricity is produced, rather than where it is consumed, consistent with the production-based approach used to measure both emissions and gross domestic product (GDP).
Regional emissions by gas type
In 2025, emissions from carbon dioxide and methane (in CO2-e) combined made up 90 percent of total emissions. Carbon dioxide decreased 1,480 kt (4.4 percent), and methane decreased 372 kt (1.0 percent) from 2024 to 2025.
Note: All gas types are expressed in comparable units of CO2-e.
Carbon dioxide emissions decreased in 12 of the 16 regions from 2024 to 2025:
- Waikato experienced the largest decrease in carbon dioxide, down 614 kt on the previous year, driven by decreases in emissions from electricity, gas, water, and waste services and manufacturing.
- Southland had the largest increase in carbon dioxide, up 29 kt on the previous year, largely due to higher emissions from manufacturing.
- Auckland emitted the largest amount of carbon dioxide (9,707 kt), followed by:
- Waikato (5,732 kt)
- Canterbury (3,784 kt).
Methane emissions decreased in 9 of the 16 regions from 2024 to 2025:
- Southland (down 214kt) and Otago (down 213kt) experienced the largest decreases in methane, from the previous year, driven by decreases in emissions from agriculture, forestry, and fishing.
- Canterbury emitted the largest amount of methane (7,366 kt), followed by:
- Waikato (6,654 kt)
- Manawatū-Whanganui (3,943 kt)
- Southland (3,643 kt).
Regions with high methane emissions are generally intensive livestock farming areas.
Nitrous oxide emissions made up 8.7 percent of total emissions and decreased 114 kt (1.7 percent) in 2025.
Nitrous oxide emissions decreased in 10 of the 16 regions from 2024 to 2025:
- Taranaki had the largest decrease in nitrous oxide emissions, down 71 kt.
- Canterbury had the largest increase in nitrous oxide emissions, up 68 kt on the previous year, driven by increases in emissions from agriculture.
- Waikato emitted the largest amount of nitrous oxide (1,487 kt), followed by:
- Canterbury (1,388 kt)
- Southland (877 kt).
Fluorinated gases (f-gases) are a family of human-made gases used in a range of industrial applications. These gases made up 1.5 percent of total emissions and increased 40 kt (3.5 percent) in 2025.
All 16 regions saw slight increases in emissions of f-gases between 2024 and 2025:
- The Southland region had the largest increase in f-gases, up 13.2 kt.
- Auckland emitted the largest amount of f-gases (388 kt), followed by:
- Canterbury (141 kt)
- Southland (112 kt).
Emissions and regional economic activity
Emissions intensity measures the amount of industry greenhouse gas emissions produced per unit of GDP. It is expressed as tonnes of CO2-e or CO₂ per $1 million of GDP, rather than kt, and excludes emissions from households.
This release presents two measures:
- CO₂-e emissions intensity, which includes all major greenhouse gases expressed as their equivalent impact on global warming.
- CO₂ emissions intensity, which measures only carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP and provides a more specific indication of emissions from fossil fuel use and industrial processes.
The industry emissions and economic data in this section have different reference periods – emissions statistics are in December years, and regional GDP statistics are in March years.
Regional gross domestic product: Year ended March 2025 data is available to the March 2025 year.
For the closest comparison with emissions, we compare the December 2024 year of emissions with the March 2025 year for GDP.
Carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2-e) emissions intensity
These emissions intensity metrics are based on current prices and are not adjusted for inflation. They show emissions intensity at a point in time and are not appropriate for assessing change over time.
Greenhouse gas emissions (industry and household): March 2026 quarter has the change in emissions intensity over time at the national level.
In 2024, industries across New Zealand’s regions produced, on average, 162 tonnes of CO2-e per $1 million of GDP. This ranged from a high of 623 tonnes in Southland to a low of 49 tonnes in Wellington.
| Region | Carbon dioxide (tonnes) per $(million) of GDP | Carbon dioxide equivalents (tonnes) per $(million) of GDP |
| Wellington | 20.7 | 48.6 |
| Auckland | 47.3 | 56.6 |
| Bay of Plenty | 42.5 | 101.4 |
| Tasman/Nelson | 47.7 | 105.2 |
| Marlborough | 46.1 | 138.2 |
| Canterbury | 49.5 | 203.6 |
| Otago | 45.4 | 248.5 |
| Hawke’s Bay | 41.5 | 248.9 |
| Northland | 100.2 | 263.3 |
| Manawatū-Whanganui | 42.5 | 299.6 |
| Waikato | 135.3 | 348.1 |
| Gisborne | 45.9 | 380.7 |
| West Coast | 118.7 | 385.6 |
| Taranaki | 223.7 | 460.8 |
| Southland | 134 | 623.2 |
Southland recorded the highest CO2-e emissions intensity. In 2024, Southland produced 8.9 percent of total industry CO2-e emissions and contributed 2.3 percent of national GDP. Like other regions dependent on agricultural and manufacturing industries, Southland’s economy can be impacted to a greater degree by fluctuations in commodity prices, and this can influence emissions intensity without a significant change in emissions.
Wellington had the lowest CO2-e emissions intensity. Wellington produced 3.6 percent of total industry CO2-e emissions and contributed 11.9 percent of national GDP in 2024. Wellington’s low emissions intensity level is due to a high contribution of services, excluding transport, postal, and warehousing industries, to its economy.
CO2-e emissions intensity tends to increase across regions depending on the significance of agriculture to the regional economy, which tends to have high methane and nitrous oxide emissions.
Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions intensity
Carbon dioxide emissions intensity reflects localised emissions-intensive economic units and activities such as mining, manufacturing, and electricity generation. This is seen in the higher carbon dioxide intensities in Taranaki, Waikato, Southland, West Coast, and Northland.
Differences in CO₂ intensity across regions are less pronounced than differences in CO2-e emissions intensity, which measures overall greenhouse gas emissions intensity:
- Taranaki recorded the highest carbon dioxide intensity, at 224 tonnes (CO2) per $1 million of GDP, followed by:
- Waikato (135 tonnes)
- Southland (134 tonnes).
- Wellington recorded the lowest carbon dioxide intensity, at 21 tonnes (CO2) per $1 million of GDP.
Definitions and metadata
Greenhouse gas emissions by region (industry and household): Year ended 2025 – DataInfo+ gives information on the methodology underlying the data and outlines revisions made in this release.
Regional greenhouse gas emissions (industry and household): Sources and methods – DataInfo+ presents the data sources and methods used for producing all the quarterly emissions accounts, including Greenhouse gas emissions by region (industry and household): Year ended 2025.
The bridging table in Table 3 of the Excel tables under Download data and Regional greenhouse gas emissions (industry and household): Sources and Methods describe how the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA) regional greenhouse gas account reconciles with the greenhouse gas inventory total.
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Next releases
Greenhouse gas emissions (industry and household): June 2026 quarter will be released on 21 October 2026.
Greenhouse gas emissions (consumption-based): Year ended 2024 (provisional) will be released on 9 December 2026.
