Greenhouse gas emissions

Why it's important

Greenhouse gases include water vapour (H₂O), carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄), nitrous oxide (N₂O), ozone and halocarbons. An increase in these gases contributes to climate change. New Zealand’s share of emissions is very small, however our gross emissions per person are high. Measuring emissions of gases from human activities can help to identify where we need to reduce our impact on the environment.

Key points

• During the 2016/2017 June financial year, Christchurch emitted an estimated 2,485,335 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e). Excluding forestry sequestration, this equates to 6.6 tCO2e per person.
• Transportation represents 53.1 per cent of these emissions, followed by stationary energy (22.7 per cent), Agriculture (10.5 per cent), Waste (9 per cent) and Industry (4.7 per cent).
• Forestry in Christchurch resulted in sequestration (carbon capture) of an estimated 362,679 tCO2e which reduced Christchurch's gross GHG emissions to 2,122,656 tCO2e.

Note: This commentary is reproduced from the Christchurch City Council website, with permission.

This is an interactive chart and you can select the legend items to change what is shown on the graph.