Updated environmental data on New Zealand’s air quality released today  

The Our air 2021 final release report incorporates analysis of the World Health Organization (WHO) 2021 air quality guidelines that were released on 23 September 2021. This report supersedes the Our air 2021: preliminary release report. 

The report compares concentrations of each pollutant indicator against New Zealand’s National Environmental Standard for Air Quality (NESAQ), the 2005 WHO air quality guidelines, and the 2021 WHO air quality guidelines. 

Based on improved scientific understanding, the 2021 WHO air quality guidelines are more stringent for most critical air pollutants and reflect the overwhelming evidence of the impacts to human health, even at low levels. They set a much lower threshold for air pollutants than the NESAQ, which themselves are based on the 2005 WHO air quality guidelines. 

The final release data show there are many urban areas that suffer from poor air quality at times, with a substantial number of sites at several locations having indicator levels above the new WHO air quality guidelines. However, Our air 2021 final release report shows that air quality has generally improved at most sites and across many of the indicators used. 

The Our air 2021 final release report includes:

• a summary of the key findings of air quality indicators updated for the report.
• comparisons and analyses of each pollutant indicator against the World Health Organization (WHO) 2021 air quality guidelines.
• references to the impacts of COVID-19 lockdowns on air quality. 

The revised report is more concise compared with recent environmental reports, and reflects a more responsive and agile approach, where data is updated as it becomes available, as recommended by the 2019 Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment’s review of the Environmental Reporting system.  

The 2021 WHO air quality guidelines are not the current standards for air quality in Aotearoa New Zealand; this remains the NESAQ. However, officials will be considering what these new guidelines indicate in terms of our current regulatory settings. 

Read Our air 2021: final release report 

Question & answers

What’s new in this updated environmental data release?

This updated environmental data release provides updates on six air quality data indicators and highlights key findings against the 2021 WHO air quality guidelines for each one.

The indicators referenced in this data release are:

• Nitrogen dioxide concentrations
• Sulphur dioxide concentrations
• PM10 concentrations
• PM2.5 concentrations
• Ground-level ozone concentrations
• Carbon monoxide concentrations. 

Why is this a data release?

During the final production stages of Our air 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) released updated Global Air Quality Guidelines. This is the first update for 16 years and comes after a systematic review of more than 500 publications by world experts. As such, it builds on the advances in measurement and pollution assessment from a global database as well as epidemiological studies (WHO, 2021). 

We recognise the importance of reporting on the most up-to-date scientific understanding of the impacts of air quality, so we have updated the findings of Our air 2021 final release report to reflect the 2021 WHO guidelines. A further update will be published in the Health Effects of Air Pollution in New Zealand study (HAPINZ) in 2022, that reflects our current understanding of the impacts of air pollution on human health.

Where is the data sourced from?

Monitoring data is sourced from regional councils, and Waka Kōtahi (NZTA). Emissions and activity data is from MfE and Stats NZ. Statistical analysis of state and trends was done by Stats NZ.

Media enquiries 

Ministry for the Environment 

Nigel Wong
027 286 7234 
media@mfe.govt.nz  

Stats NZ  

Sandi Reily
021 285 9191
communications@stats.govt.nz