Why it's 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 reduced Christchurch's gross GHG emissions to 2,122,656 tCO2e.
Note: This commentary is reproduced from the Christchurch City Council website, with permission.
This is an interactive chart and you can select the legend items to change what is shown on the graph.
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.
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Data source |
Christchurch City Council |
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Data access |
On request from Research and Monitoring Team, Christchurch City Council |
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Date updated |
Annually (new dataset from 2017) |
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Next data update |
First quarter 2020 |
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Data download |
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Page updated |
May 2019 |
Data breakdowns available
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Geographic Area |
Data available for Christchurch City only |
- MBIEs annual publication of energy use(external link) in New Zealand
- Statistics New Zealand’s annual release of energy use in New Zealand for 2018(external link)
- The Christchurch City Council’s work on climate change(external link)
- EECAs national energy database(external link)
Other areas: Urban indicators, Community indicators, Economic indicators