An aerial photograph of Auckland showing Mt Wellington and surrounding areas.

Second emissions reduction plan released

The Government has today released the second emissions reduction plan. 

The actions and initiatives in this plan keep New Zealand’s emissions to no more than 305 megatonnes between 2026 and 2030, allowing us to meet our second emission budget and setting the foundation to meet our 2050 net-zero target. 

Last updated:

About our second emissions reduction plan

The second emissions reduction plan is a key tool to bring the Government’s climate change strategy to life, and has targeted actions in the sectors of our economy that produces the greatest emissions: agriculture, transport, energy and waste. It also includes other areas such as the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme and sustainable finance. 

There are eight key policies that will have the greatest potential emissions savings over the next five years:  

  1. Enabling more renewable energy projects through Electrify NZ   
  2. Recognising carbon capture, utilisation and storage in the NZ ETS  
  3. Targeting a network of 10,000 EV charging points by 2030   
  4. Introducing agricultural emissions pricing systems by 2030 and incentivising the uptake of new technologies  
  5. Exploring private-sector partnerships to plant trees on Crown-owned land which has low conservation value and low farming value
  6. Introducing a regulated product stewardship scheme for refrigerants from 2025  
  7. Leveraging the Waste Minimisation Fund to enable resource recovery systems and infrastructure to process organic waste  
  8. Improving organic waste management and landfill gas capture to increase landfill gas recovery rates  

The Government is also amending the first emissions reduction plan to make sure it reflects this Government’s approach to climate change. The latest emissions projections indicate that we are on track to meet the first emissions budget, even with the changes in policy. 

Read the amended first emissions reduction plan.

Emissions projections

Official emissions projections, also released today, show the additional policies and measures in the second emissions reduction plan are projected to reduce emissions to 303 megatonnes (Mt) Co2-e in the second half of the decade, 2 Mt Co2-e below the second emissions budget. 

The projections also suggest that New Zealand is on track to meet its 2050 net zero target, with net emissions excluding biogenic methane estimated to be just below zero in 2050 with the additional policies and measures in the plan.   

Read more about New Zealand's projected greenhouse gas emissions.