Te Whanganui-a-Tara – Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions decreased 3.5 percent in the September 2022 quarter, according to the latest report from Stats.
The fall in emissions follows successive increases over the previous three quarters and was driven mostly by significant reductions in the electricity, gas, water, and waste services industry, and in the manufacturing industry.
Emissions from the electricity, gas, water, and waste services industry decreased by 26 percent compared with the June quarter.
Te fall was mostly due to a smaller share of fossil fuels being used to generate electricity and a higher share of renewable energy sources, Stats NZ environmental and economic accounts manager Stephen Oakley says.
Most notably, hydroelectric generation increased 29 percent over the September quarter, geothermal was up two percent and wind generated electricity reached its highest ever level after increasing by 9.7 percent.
Over the same period, gross domestic product (GDP) for the electricity, gas, water, and waste services industry grew by 3.1 percent.
Manufacturing emissions decreased for the second quarter in a row. Last quarter, emissions reached their lowest level since the beginning of the time series in March 2014 and in the September quarter dropped a further 8.6 percent.
In both quarters significant contributors to the declines came from the petroleum, chemical, polymer, and rubber product manufacturing industries. In the September quarter, food, beverage, and tobacco manufacturing emissions also declined. Over the same period, manufacturing GDP fell by 0.3 percent.
Quarterly emissions from primary industries such as agriculture, forestry, fishing, and mining have been relatively stable over the last five quarters, holding at just under 11,000 kilotonnes per quarter.
Aotearoa spent most of the September 2022 quarter under the orange traffic light setting of the covid framework. However, during the September 2022 quarter, border restrictions and vaccine requirements were progressively eased and the framework ceased from September 14.
Over the June and September 2022 quarters, transport emissions rose by 9.9 and 9.3 percent, respectively (115 and 118 kilotonnes). However, emissions from other services, which include tourism and accommodation industries, decreased over these quarters.
Household emissions rose three percent in the September 2022 quarter, driven by a 3.3 percent increase in private transport emissions.
