Source: Radio New Zealand
123RF
New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions have slightly fallen, the latest data shows.
Numbers from the Greenhouse Gas Inventory, the country’s official record of emissions from human activities, shows the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other gases being produced dropped 0.1 percent between 2023 and 2024.
Once forests and other carbon sinks were taken into account, net emissions fell two percent, from 56 million tonnes of CO2-equivalent gases to 55 million tonnes.
New Zealand has a target, set through legislation, to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.
The largest increase in emissions came from energy production, after low hydro lake levels in 2024 forced the country to burn more fossil fuels to produce electricity.
However, that was partly offset by decreased emissions from manufacturing and construction, because the energy shortage forced some companies to slow and even stop production.
Agricultural emissions – which account for more than half of New Zealand’s total emissions, mostly through methane from livestock – decreased slightly, by 0.3 percent.
That was largely because there are fewer sheep in New Zealand.
The emissions from cattle, especially dairy cows, rose by 200,000 tonnes (0.8 percent) because cows were producing more milk.
New Zealand’s gross and net emissions peaked in 2006.
Net emissions have fallen by 15 percent since then, through a combination of reducing emissions at their sources and more forestry planting.
The inventory, which is compiled by the Ministry for the Environment each year, is the data that New Zealand reports to the UN Framework Convention on Climate change, the body that governs global climate change action.
Ministry chief science adviser Alison Collins said it provided an “annual update on the health of the climate”.
“It helps all of us see which parts of the system are putting pressure on the atmosphere, which parts are easing that pressure, and we might need to focus effort.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand