NZ's greenhouse gas emissions fell 4.5% due to Covid, but upward trend resumes

Wednesday, 11 August 2021

Make these easy changes to household habits and you'll shave about 10 per cent off your annual carbon emissions.

New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions fell 4.5 per cent to 80,552 kilotonnes in the year to the end of March as a result of the impact of the Covid pandemic, Stats NZ has estimated.

The decline was greater than the 2.3 per cent drop in GDP over the period, reflecting the particular impact the virus has had on the emissions-heavy transport sector.

But emissions resumed a slow upward trend towards the end of the year, with a 1.1 per cent rise in emissions in the March quarter.

Emissions from the transport sector were down 49 per cent and manufacturing emissions fell 7.2 per cent, with agriculture, forestry, and fishing emissions down 1.2 per cent.

Two industries also bucked the annual decline, with higher emissions.

* Wind farms make cheap, green power – so why did we stop building them?

* Country 'long way away' from 100pc renewable generation says Meridian boss

Last year’s Covid lockdown has led to a fall in annual greenhouse gas emissions reported today by Stats, but the power industry is a blackspot.

Emissions from the electricity sector, which also counts some other utilities, rose 13 per cent over the year as the country relied more on burning fossil fuels to generate power.

Emissions from the services sector – excluding transport, postal services, and warehousing – increased very marginally, by 0.3 per cent.

“The year to March was one of significant upheaval for our economy and society, and that has flowed through to our greenhouse gas emissions,” Stats NZ accounts manager Stephen Oakley said.

“Electricity, gas, water, and waste services emissions were up due to the greater reliance on fossil fuel use for electricity generation over the year, as New Zealand experienced dry conditions in hydro-generation areas.”

Stats NZ's update comes a day after Genesis Energy copped criticism from Energy Minister Megan Woods for not firing up the third coal-fired Rankine turbine at the generator’s Huntly power station in time to head off power cuts on Monday.

Genesis pressed its third Rankine unit back into service in February in response to concerns over power shortages, adding it to its two existing coal-fired turbines and two gas-fired turbines.

Genesis has been burning huge amounts of coal since then to generate power, though it has not used the third turbine since July 9 as hydro lake levels have now risen to close to normal.

Stats NZ’s update also comes days after Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern defended New Zealand’s record on emissions in the wake of criticism from Swedish activist Greta Thunberg.

Thunberg singled out New Zealand in a tweet as one of the world's worst performers on climate change, noting its 57 per cent increase in emissions between 1990 and 2018 was the second largest increase among industrialised countries.