Greenhouse gas emissions

Why is this important?

Greenhouse gases include water vapour (H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), ozone and halocarbons. An increase in these gases contributes to climate change. New Zealand’s share of emissions is very small, however our gross emissions per person are high. Measuring emissions of gases from human activities can help to identify where we need to reduce our impact on the environment.

Key points

  • During the 2016/2017 June financial year, Christchurch emitted an estimated 2,485,335 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e). Excluding forestry sequestration, this equates to 6.6 tCO2e per person.
  • Transportation represents 53.1 per cent of these emissions, followed by stationary energy (22.7 per cent), Agriculture (10.5 per cent), Waste (9 per cent) and Industry (4.7 per cent).
  • Forestry in Christchurch resulted in sequestration (carbon capture) of an estimated 362,679 tCO2e which reduces Christchurch's gross GHG emissions to 2,122,656 tCO2e.

Note: This commentary is reproduced from the Christchurch City Council website, with permission.

Note this is an interactive chart and you can click on the legend items to change what is shown on the graph.

Data notes

The greenhouse gas emissions measurement is derived from analysis by AECOM NZ on behalf of the Christchurch City Council.

It calculates the carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent emissions, which includes methane and nitrous oxide emissions in addition to CO2 emissions, on an annual basis by fuel type.

Data information and downloads

Data source

Christchurch City Council

Data access

On request from Research and Monitoring Team, Christchurch City Council

Date updated

Annually (new dataset from 2017)

Next data update

First quarter 2020

Data download

Download data [XLSX, 20 KB]

Page updated

May 2019

Data breakdowns available 

Geographic  Area

Data available for Christchurch City only

Related links to other information and reports