NZ's greenhouse gas emissions up 0.8%, manufacturing emissions fall

Wellington, Feb 28 New Zealand's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions increased 0.8 per cent, or 161 kilotonnes, in the June 2022 quarter from the March 2022 quarter, the country's statistics department said on Tuesday.

The June 2022 quarter saw the third successive increase in quarterly emissions and a gross domestic product (GDP) increase of 1.9 percent, Xinhua news agency quoted Stats NZ as saying.

Although total quarterly emissions rose, decreases were recorded by households and several industry groups.

Most notably, manufacturing emissions dropped by 7.5 per cent, or 194 kilotonnes, the statistics department said.

"The fall was driven mostly by petroleum, chemical, plastic and rubber product manufacturing," Stats NZ's environmental-economic accounts manager Stephen Oakley said.

The cessation of oil refining activity from April 2022 was a key factor behind manufacturing's quarterly fall, Oakley said.

Falls in emissions from manufacturing and households were more than offset by the 8.5 per cent increase in emissions from electricity, gas, water, as well as the 5.5 per cent increase in emissions from transport, postal and warehousing, he said.

Household emissions fell 2 per cent in the June 2022 quarter, driven by a 1.7 per cent fall in private transport emissions, statistics show.

For the year to June 2022, total annual emissions fell 5.2 per cent, and total annual emissions for industry and households were 77,512 kilotonnes, still significantly below the pre-pandemic level, which peaked at 84,633 kilotonnes in September 2019, Stats NZ said.

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