StatsNZ data published today shows greenhouse gas emissions, including the emissions by gas type for both industries and households, the emissions intensity (emissions in relation to GDP/economic output) for industries, and tourism-related emissions.

Industry and household emissions estimates use the latest New Zealand Greenhouse Gas Inventory data from the Ministry for the Environment and show updated production-based gross emissions for the years ended December 2007 through to 2023, on a System of Environmental-Economic Accounts (SEEA) basis.

Key facts

Year ended December 2023

• Gross greenhouse gas emissions from New Zealand’s industries and households were 78,778 kilotonnes (kt) of carbon dioxide equivalent. This is a fall of 0.8 percent (612 kt) from 2022.
• The fall was driven by a 1.0 percent decrease (720 kt) in industry-related emissions.
• Household emissions increased 1.3 percent (107 kt) due to an increase in household transport emissions.
• The largest changes to industry emissions were:
  • agriculture, down 2.0 percent (852 kt), driven mainly by sheep, beef cattle, and grain farming
  • electricity, gas, water, and waste services, down 8.5 percent (563 kt), driven by water, sewerage, drainage, and waste services manufacturing
  • manufacturing, down 3.2 percent (300 kt), driven mainly by petroleum, chemical, polymer, and rubber product manufacturing
  • transport, postal and warehousing, up 25.7 percent (1,343 kt), driven by rail, water, air, and other transport.

• Emissions from industries were 89.6 percent of the total, with the remaining 10.4 percent from households.
• Emissions attributable to tourism in 2023 accounted for 5.7 percent of total emissions.

Primary industries contributed the most greenhouse gas emissions (56.3 percent) to the ‘all industry and households’ total but had the smallest contribution to nominal gross domestic product (GDP) (5.3 percent). This group includes agriculture, forestry, fishing, and mining.

Goods-producing industries contributed the second most to both emissions and GDP, at 21.7 percent and 18.8 percent respectively. This group includes manufacturing industries; electricity, gas, water, and waste services; and construction.

Service industries, as a broad industry group, contributed the least greenhouse gas emissions (11.5 percent) to the ‘all industry and households’ total but contributed the most to nominal GDP (67.4 percent). This group includes wholesale trade; retail trade; transport, postal, and warehousing; government and defence; and many others.

Changes in emissions by gas type

Gross emissions decreased 612 kt between 2022 and 2023 with three gases contributing to the decrease – methane, nitrous oxide, and fluorinated gases (expressed in carbon dioxide equivalent form).

Methane emissions fell 749 kt (2.0 percent). The fall was driven by sheep, beef cattle, and grain farming, which reduced by 452 kt, and dairy cattle farming, which reduced by 338 kt.

Fluorinated gas emissions fell 346 kt (22.9 percent), driven by water, sewerage, drainage, and waste services, which reduced by 298 kt.

Nitrous oxide emissions fell 59 kt (0.8 percent), driven by sheep, beef cattle, and grain farming, which reduced by 52 kt, and dairy cattle farming, which reduced by 49 kt.

Carbon dioxide emissions rose 542 kt (1.6 percent), led by rail, water, air, and other transport, which increased by 1,253 kt. The largest offsetting decrease came from electricity and gas supply, which decreased 227 kt.

The table below summarises key industry contributions to total emissions in 2023, the change in industry emissions when compared with 2007 levels, and the average annual growth rates implied by those changes for key greenhouse gases.

Contribution, absolute change, and annual average growth of emissions by industry, 2007–2023

Industry (ANZSIC06) and households			2023	2007–2023
			Contribution to total CO2-e	Absolute change in CO2-e	Key gases
					CO2-e	CO2	CH4
			% of total	Kt	Average annual % change
Primary industries			56.3	-2,698	-0.4	-1.4	-0.4
	Agriculture, forestry, and fishing		54.9	-1,715	-0.2	-1.4	-0.3
		Agriculture	54.0	-1,577	-0.2	-1.5	-0.3
		Forestry and logging	0.6	66	1.0	2.3	-0.7
		Fishing, aquaculture and agriculture, forestry, and fishing support services	0.3	-205	-3.6	-3.8	-3.3
	Mining		1.4	-983	-3.8	-1.3	-8.6
Goods-producing industries			21.7	-4,509	-1.5	-1.6	-1.5
	Manufacturing		11.5	-1,101	-0.7	-0.7	1.3
	Electricity, gas, water, and waste services		7.6	-4,460	-3.4	-4.9	-1.8
	Construction		2.6	1,052	4.7	4.7	-1.4
Service industries			11.5	-237	-0.2	-0.1	-5.2
	Transport, postal, and warehousing		8.3	-121	-0.1	-0.1	-6.3
	Services excluding transport, postal, and warehousing		3.2	-116	-0.3	-0.2	-4.7
Total all industries			89.6	-7,444	-0.6	-1.2	-0.5
Households			10.4	39	0.0	0.1	-0.1
Total				-7,406	-0.6	-0.9	-0.5
Source: Stats NZ
Note: Contribution to emissions is based on the December 2023 year.