Tuesday, 13 April 2021 10:19

Ag biggest contributor to GHG emissions - report

Written by Staff Reporters

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The Ministry for the Environment's 2021 Greenhouse Gas Inventory says that for the year 2019, agriculture was New Zealand's biggest emitting sector.

The Ministry for the Environment’s (MfE) 2021 Greenhouse Gas Inventory revealed that for the year 2019, agriculture was among the two largest contributors to New Zealand’s gross Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions.

The report, which documents all of New Zealand’s human-generated greenhouse gas emissions and removals since 1990, shows that New Zealand’s gross emissions were 82.3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (Mt CO2-e) in 2019.

The report states that emissions for the agriculture sector made up 48% of New Zealand’s gross emissions.

It also states that between 1990 and 2019, gross emissions increased by 26%, largely down to increases in methane from dairy cattle digestive systems and carbon dioxide from road transport.

On the whole, gross emissions in 2019 comprised 46% carbon dioxide, 42% methane, 10% nitrous oxide and 2% fluorinated gases.

The Greenhouse Gas Inventory is collated as one of New Zealand’s mandatory reporting obligations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol.

It informs MfE policy recommendations on climate change and includes data that helps monitor New Zealand’s progress towards emissions reduction targets.

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