Photo: 123RF
The country's official climate balance sheet shows emissions continue to fall.
All parts of the economy shrank their emissions in 2023, the latest official numbers show.
The country's greenhouse gas inventory, which always lags reality by over a year, shows emissions fell two percent in 2023, about the same as the emissions produced by a quarter of New Zealand cars in a year.
The fall built on a similar drop in 2022, and shows the country's planet-heating emissions appear to have turned a corner.
New Zealand's gross emissions rose in the 1990s, peaked in 2006 and were relatively stable for over a decade before falling in 2022 and 2023.
New Zealand's gross emissions in 2023 were 76.4 million tonnes - 13 percent higher than1990 but lower on a per-capita basis because of population growth. Gross emissions refers to actual emissions before counting forestry removals.
The inventory is the official report of all emissions produced and removed by human activities within New Zealand, a balance sheet of the country's contribution to climate change.
It shows forestry absorbed about a quarter of the emissions produced by the main sectors of waste, industry, farming and transport in 2023.
The declining trend is also apparent in the agriculture sector. Photo: Supplied
In agriculture, falling numbers of sheep, dairy cows and beef cattle saw emissions drop slightly by two percent.
The inventory said improved productivity in farming has allowed agricultural emissions to fall since 2014.
A wet year with strong hydro electricity production meant the country burned less coal and gas for power and contributed to a one percent fall in emissions from the energy sector in 2023.
Landfills captured more of their planet-heating gases and people sent less food and garden waste to landfill, reducing methane emissions from waste.
People cut down fewer trees, and there was a drop in emissions of the refrigerant gases used in cooling systems.
Tokelau, which counts its emissions in New Zealand's inventory, cut emissions by 10.4 percent, off a small base.
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