Greenhouse gas emissions targets and reporting

New Zealand has made commitments to the following international and domestic emission targets.  

• Domestic targets are targets that New Zealand has set as part of its domestic policy decisions under the Climate Change Response Act. 
• International targets are targets that New Zealand has set under the Paris Agreement. 

See New Zealand’s projected greenhouse gas emissions to 2050 for progress towards our targets and the latest projections of our emissions to 2050.

Domestic targets 

Domestic target under the Climate Change Response Act (CCRA)

• Net zero emissions of all greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions other than biogenic methane by 2050.
• 24 to 47 per cent reduction below 2017 biogenic methane emissions by 2050, including 10 per cent reduction below 2017 biogenic methane emissions by 2030.

Government Target 9

• On track to meet New Zealand’s 2050 net zero climate change targets, with total net emissions of no more than 290 megatonnes from 2022 to 2025 (emissions budget 1) and 305 megatonnes from 2026 to 2030 (emissions budget 2). 

International targets

2030 Target (2021-2030)

• Our first Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC1) under the Paris Agreement is to reduce net GHG emissions to 50 per cent below gross 2005 levels by 2030. 

Domestic targets under the Climate Change Response Act

In 2019, the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Act set into law domestic targets into law.

The domestic targets under the Climate Change Response Act are point year targets. This means they are goals that we must meet in a specific year. 

We use emissions budgets as ‘stepping stones’ to guide us towards the 2050 domestic targets.  

The Government published the first three emissions budgets (2022–2025, 2026–2030, 2031–2035) in May 2022. This was accompanied by the publication of the first emissions reduction plan, which sets out policies and strategies for meeting the first emissions budget. 

The Climate Change Commission is tasked with advising the Government on emissions budgets and monitoring its progress.

See Emissions budgets and the emissions reduction plan.

Government Target 9

In 2024, Cabinet set nine government targets, to focus the public sector on achieving improved results in health, law and order, work, housing and the environment.

Target 9 is focused on making sure New Zealand is on track to meet its 2050 net zero climate change commitments

See Government Target 9 quarterly reporting.

First Nationally Determined Contribution

Every country sets its own Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement. 

The main purpose of an NDC is to outline the contribution countries will make towards delivering the Paris Agreement temperature goal. 

The Paris Agreement aims to: 

• keep the global average temperature well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C 
• strengthen the ability of countries to deal with the impacts of climate change 
• make sure that financial flows support the development of low-carbon and climate-resilient economies. 

The Paris Agreement states that each country's successive NDC will represent a progression beyond the country's current NDC and reflect its highest possible ambition, reflecting its common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, in the light of different national circumstances. 

Our NDC can be met through a combination of domestic emissions reductions, domestic removals, and if needed, supplemented by international cooperation (emissions reductions occurring offshore but paid for by New Zealand). 

New Zealand’s first NDC (NDC1) was updated on 31 October 2021 and covers the period 2021–2030. 

Our NDC1 target is economy-wide, covering all sectors and all greenhouse gases. 

Under the Paris Agreement, New Zealand must publish a Biennial Transparency Report every two years to report on progress on its NDC. The first report was published in December 2024. 

See New Zealand's first Biennial Transparency Report.

See Nationally Determined Contribution. 

We report our emissions and removals for two different purposes:

• to compile an annual Greenhouse Gas Inventory report of all of our domestic emissions and removals which we submit annually in April to the UNFCCC  (see New Zealand’s national greenhouse gas inventory)
• to show progress towards our emissions reduction targets. 

Emissions reporting and accounting 

To show progress towards our targets, we use net target accounting. We apply a country-specific approach based on a combination of guidelines and methods developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and agreed under the Paris Agreement for the relevant target.  

How Parties account for their contributions under the Paris Agreement is nationally determined. Basing our approach on existing guidance ensures our approach has credibility and integrity. More detail can be found at Transparency [UNFCCC website] and in our Biennial Transparency Report. 

The accounting rules New Zealand applies are slightly different for tracking our international target compared to our domestic budgets. International rules include Tokelau’s emissions alongside New Zealand’s emissions. 

Gross emissions 

Gross emissions include emissions from all sectors of the New Zealand economy, except for land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF).  

Net emissions  

Net emissions represent emissions and removals from all sectors of the New Zealand economy, including the LULUCF sector.  

Net emissions provide information on what emissions and removals the atmosphere sees in any given year as the result of all human activities in New Zealand.  

Target accounting emissions 

Target accounting emissions are a version of net emissions which include all our gross emissions, but only a subset of emissions and removals in the LULUCF sector.  

Aotearoa has large areas of plantation forests, which create peaks and troughs in net emissions as they move through growth and harvest cycles. This can obscure underlying trends. 

Target accounting does not count these business-as-usual ups and downs from forests that existed before 1990, or from those that have already reached their average long term carbon stocks. This makes it easier to understand our overall progress. 

It does count emissions from deforestation and removals from newly established forests up until their long term carbon stocks have been reached. It also counts emissions or removals caused by changes to business-as-usual forest management for pre-1990 forests.  

Target accounting provides:  

• A continued incentive to establish new forests  
• A disincentive to deforest  
• An incentive to increase carbon stocks of pre-1990 forest above business-as-usual. 

This helps to avoid relying on past action (such as from forests that already existed before 1990) to meet our targets. 

2020 Target (2013-2020)

• Our 2020 target was to reduce GHG emissions to 5 per cent below 1990 levels over the period 1 January 2013 to 31 December 2020.  
• This target was under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) while applying the Kyoto Protocol framework of rules.

New Zealand met this target through a combination of forestry activities and surplus credits from the first Kyoto period. New Zealand has submitted its True-up Report to the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCCC), and all remaining surplus Kyoto-era units have now been cancelled from the Crown account. 

See About New Zealand's net position.

2012 Target (2008-2012)

In 2015 New Zealand met a previous target under the first Kyoto Protocol commitment period of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels between 2008 and 2012.

See Report upon expiration of the additional period for fulfilling commitments by New Zealand.