New Zealand remains on track for Target 9 under latest projections
Updated 2025 projections suggest New Zealand can meet the Government Target for climate change.
Updated projections suggest New Zealand is still ‘on track’ to meet the Government Target to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions.
In 2024, the Government set nine Government Targets to focus the public sector on improved results in health, education, law and order, work, housing and the environment.
Progress is reported quarterly. The latest progress report is for the quarter ending September 2025.
Target 9 is to reduce emissions. The target has two parts, which relate to meeting New Zealand’s first and second emissions budgets.
New Zealand sets emissions budgets – limits on the amount of emissions it produces in a period of time – to step us towards its 2050 net zero goals.
Since the last quarterly update, The Ministry for the Environment has released new official emissions projections to 2050. These projections indicate that New Zealand can meet its first and second emissions budgets.
Given the new projections, the performance rating for Target 9 has been reassessed.
The new projections continue to give confidence that New Zealand is ‘on track’ for both parts of Target 9.
New Zealand is in the process of implementing its second emissions reductions plan, which is designed to help the country meet its second emissions budget through targeted actions in the sectors of the economy that produce the greatest emissions. It has just consulted on an amendment to the plan.
The second emissions reduction plan includes an adaptive management approach. This means we will closely monitor progress so we can make adjustments if necessary to ensure we stay on track to meet the second emissions budget.