New Zealand remains on track to meet Target 9
March quarterly update on the Government’s public service target for climate change shows progress in actioning emissions reduction policies.
New Zealand remains ‘on track’ to meet the Government’s public sector target to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions.
Last year, the Government set nine 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 March 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.
The performance rating of ‘on track’ has not changed this quarter, as the projections informing Target 9 have not changed.
The rating is based on the emissions projections released with the second emissions reduction plan in December 2024. Those projections give confidence that New Zealand can meet both its first and second first emissions budgets, and so achieve Target 9, with the implementation of the policies and initiatives in the second emissions reduction plan.
The second emissions reductions plan covers the period 2026 to 2030, and contains targeted actions in the sectors of the economy that produce the greatest emissions such as agriculture, transport, energy and waste.
Following the release of the plan, the Government is now focused on implementing policies. Thirty out of 36 (86 per cent) of the plan’s policies and actions are already underway.
New Zealand will closely monitor progress towards its emissions budgets to make sure it stays on course for its targets.