This is the largest quarterly decrease since the recording started in March 2010, excluding the pandemic years, Stats NZ environmental-economic accounts manager Stephen Oakley said.
The 2.7 percent decrease in total emissions, equivalent to 541 kilotons (kt), was mainly due to lower agriculture, forestry, and fishing emissions, Oakley said.
The agriculture, forestry, and fishing industry produced their lowest level of quarterly emissions since the data series began, down 8.1 percent from their peak in March 2019, statistics show.
The manufacturing industry had the second-largest decrease in emissions in the March 2024 quarter, declining 4 percent, which is the third time in a row that emissions have fallen for this industry, Oakley said.
The largest increase in emissions of this period came from the electricity, gas, water, and waste services industry, up 7.7 percent, due to an increase in natural gas used for electricity generation, which followed an 18 percent decrease in emissions from this industry in the previous quarter, he said.
Total household emissions increased 0.6 percent, largely driven by heating and cooling emissions, which were up 5.7 percent, statistics show.
Annually, greenhouse gas emissions rose 0.5 percent, or 396 kt, in the year ended March 2024, contributed by the transport, postal, and warehousing industry, up 20 percent year on year, and the electricity, gas, water, and waste services industry, up 3.4 percent annually, Stats NZ said.
The agriculture, forestry, and fishing industry had the largest annual decrease of 839 kt, or 1.9 percent, in the March 2024 quarter, largely due to decreases in agriculture.
The agriculture, forestry, and fishing industry's annual emissions were down 6 percent from their peak in the March 2014 year.
Latest comments