New Zealand’s gross greenhouse gas emissions were 78.8 million tonnes of CO2-e in the year ended December 2020, 20.8 percent higher than in 1990, Stats NZ said today.
The indicator New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions measures greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions which have resulted from production activity in New Zealand territory from 1990 to 2020. Emissions from the different greenhouse gases are shown in carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2-e) units. Changes in emissions in relation to three points in time are shown: the start of the timeseries (1990), a 2005 reference period, and the previous year’s emissions (2019).
Climate change is primarily caused by the accumulation of GHG emissions in the atmosphere due to human activities. In 2020, New Zealand’s gross GHG emissions were made up of carbon dioxide (43.7 percent), methane (43.5 percent), nitrous oxide (10.7 percent), and fluorinated gases (2.0 percent).
“Gross emissions in 2020 were 3.5 percent lower than in 2019, primarily due to decreased road transport emissions,” environmental and agricultural statistics senior manager Michele Lloyd said.
COVID lockdowns in 2020 saw road transport emissions drop by 8.3 percent, their biggest annual decrease since 1990.
| Year | Million tonnes CO₂-e |
| 1990 | 65.2 |
| 1991 | 66.2 |
| 1992 | 67.3 |
| 1993 | 67.2 |
| 1994 | 68.4 |
| 1995 | 69 |
| 1996 | 71.2 |
| 1997 | 74 |
| 1998 | 71.8 |
| 1999 | 73.6 |
| 2000 | 75.5 |
| 2001 | 78.5 |
| 2002 | 78.6 |
| 2003 | 80.8 |
| 2004 | 80.6 |
| 2005 | 82.7 |
| 2006 | 82.8 |
| 2007 | 80.7 |
| 2008 | 80.5 |
| 2009 | 77.8 |
| 2010 | 78.4 |
| 2011 | 78.3 |
| 2012 | 80.5 |
| 2013 | 79.8 |
| 2014 | 80.6 |
| 2015 | 80.5 |
| 2016 | 78.4 |
| 2017 | 79.9 |
| 2018 | 80.1 |
| 2019 | 81.6 |
| 2020 | 78.8 |
From 1990-2020:
- Gross carbon dioxide emissions were up 35.1 percent and were mainly produced by transport (38.0 percent), manufacturing industries and construction (19.1 percent), and public electricity and heat production (13.4 percent).
- Gross methane emissions were up 3.9 percent and were mainly produced by livestock (88.9 percent).
- Gross nitrous oxide emissions were up 46.1 percent and mainly came from agricultural soils (93.1 percent).
We obtained emissions data from New Zealand’s greenhouse gas inventory 1990-2020, which is produced by the Ministry for the Environment (MfE) as part of New Zealand’s reporting obligation under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol (Ministry for the Environment, 2022). The indicator was last updated in February 2022.
Also being released today are the following air quality indicators, which have been updated to include the latest World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines:
- Carbon monoxide concentrations
- Ground-level ozone concentrations
- Sulphur dioxide concentrations
- Nitrogen dioxide concentrations
- PM10 concentrations
- PM2.5 concentrations.
The WHO guidelines, released on 22 September 2021, feature lowered thresholds for what is considered harmful to human health for most of the indicators listed above.
Data for the air quality indicators is provided by regional councils and unitary authorities. These indicators were last updated in October 2021.
Stats NZ publishes and updates Aotearoa New Zealand’s environmental indicators covering air, atmosphere and climate, fresh water, land, and the marine environment, as part of the Environmental Reporting Programme in partnership with the Ministry for the Environment.
