GHG Inventory Tracks NZ to Meet Its 2050 Net-Zero Targets

The country’s Ministry for the Environment (MfE) announced in December 2025 that New Zealand remains on track to meet the Government Target for climate change based on the updated 2025 projections. 

Target 9 is among the nine targets the government set in 2024, to focus the public sector on improved results in health, education, law and order, work, housing and the environment.  

Target 9 focuses on ensuring New Zealand is on track to meet its 2050 net-zero climate change commitments. The updated projections show that New Zealand is on track to meet its 2050 net-zero climate change targets, with total net emissions of no more than 290 megatonnes from 2022 to 2025 and 305 megatonnes from 2026 to 2030. The projection is based on data from the New Zealand Greenhouse Gas Inventory 1990-2021 report, which was submitted in 2023.

According to the MfE, the reason data for the end of 2023 is only reported now, when it is already 2025, is to follow international reporting rules that require countries to submit their inventories on a fixed schedule each year.

To meet the schedule, sufficient time is required to collect and process the data, which can take months. The most recent year that can be included is usually 16 months before the publication date. So, for the GHG inventory published in April 2025, the most recent year with complete and verified data is 2023, and the latest inventory covers data from 1990 to 31 December 2023.

New Zealand’s Greenhouse Gas Inventory (the Inventory) is produced each year as part of the country’s obligations under the Paris Agreement and United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It is the official annual report on all human-induced emissions and removals of greenhouse gases in New Zealand and a key source of information on its greenhouse gas emissions trends.

GHG covered in the inventory includes gases with direct warming effects, such as carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), sulphur hexafluoride (SF6), and nitrogen trifluoride (NF3).

Key messages of the New Zealand’s Greenhouse Gas Inventory 1990–2023, are as follows. Inventory reporting uses carbon dioxide equivalence (Mt CO2-e) for comparing greenhouse gases.

• In 2023, New Zealand’s gross emissions were 76.4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (Mt CO2-e), 2% (1.6 Mt CO2-e) lower than in 2022.
• Between 2022 and 2023, Gross emissions fell by 2%, and net emissions fell by 4%.
• All sectors also saw emissions reductions in 2023. Agriculture by 2.2% (0.9 Mt CO2-e), Energy 0.8% (0.2 Mt CO2-e), Industrial Processes and Product Use by 9.3% (0.4 Mt CO2-e), Waste by 0.7% (0.02 Mt CO2-e0), and Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry by 4.3% (0.8 Mt CO2-e).
• Drivers of GHG emissions reductions include: strong hydroelectricity generation, closure of oil refineries, fewer dairy cattle, beef cattle, and sheep, reduced refrigerant emissions, decreased limestone application, reduced forest harvesting and lower deforestation, increased landfill gas capture, and less garden, food, and paper waste sent to landfill.

Learn more about New Zealand’s Greenhouse Gas Inventory 1990–2023.