From a high in 2019, emissions have fallen for three straight years
Aotearoas climate pollution has dropped 9% in three years, according to new Statistics NZ data. Last year, the country produced 75.3 million tonnes of greenhouse pollution, the lowest level since the statisticians started collecting emissions data in 2014. The tail-end of the pandemic could have kept 2022s emissions down, said Statistic NZs Stephen Oakley. But last year saw big drops in the pollution produced by steel and aluminium manufacturing and large gains in renewable energy generation, he added. Emissions peaked in 2019, when the country produced the equivalent of 82.7m tonnes of carbon dioxide. In the pandemic year of 2020 when the closed border and lockdowns curtailed travel and business activities the national carbon footprint fell 5% to 78.5m tonnes, according to Statistics NZ. The agency measures emissions each quarter. Since 2020, there has been a fair level of variability, Oakley said. But overall, annual emissions continued to drop. The 75.3m tonnes of emissions produced last year is 3% lower than 2021s greenhouse total. The Government pledged to cut the countrys footprint in half by 2030 a goal that, at face value, would require consistent annual cuts of 6% over the decade. However, the pledge uses an apples-to-orange comparison, comparing the gross emissions (excluding trees) of the reference year against the net emissions (including trees) produced to 2030. Therefore, smaller annual cuts could meet the national target, according to Newsroom analysis . If sustained, the drops recorded by Statistics NZ go some way to meeting that pledge. The Government is expecting to buy large numbers of, essentially, offshore carbon credits to top up any shortfall to its goal. Emissions have long been expected to bounce back after the pandemic. Oakley noted the border fully reopened in the second half of last year. But other impacts were likely to last. The Marsden Point factory stopped refining crude oil a process than produces large amounts of greenhouse gas in April last year. Thats caused a sustained drop in emissions, though oil-refining pollution likely rose in other countries in response. In the last quarter of 2022, the pollution produced by the manufacturing industry, led by cuts at metal-making factories, shrank nearly 8%, Oakley said. The fall comes before the Government deal with NZ Steel to switch to a greener process from 2027. Overall, manufacturing emissions were 20% lower in 2022, compared to 2019. Green electricity is also driving down the national footprint. In the last three months of 2022, renewable power generation was at its highest level in decades, Oakley said. Thats reduced the amount of coal and gas burned at back-up power stations. Its encouraging to see these drops continuing, Oakley said. In October, the agency will release emissions data for the March and June quarters this year, which could capture whether emissions stay low post-Covid, he added. Correction: The original story reported that to cut emissions 50% by 2030, the country would need consistent annual cuts of 5% over the decade. This relied on a 2019 baseline. But if each previous year is used as a baseline and emissions reduce yearly starting in 2020, emissions reductions of roughly 6% per annum would be required to meet the 2030 target. (Article edited July 24, 9.15am) Our weekly email newsletter, by the Forever Project's Olivia Wannan, rounds up the latest climate events. Sign up here .