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1 New Zealand’s Emissions Profile 1990–2007

The update of the net position always includes the latest information from New Zealand’s greenhouse gas inventory submitted under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol. In the 2007 inventory submitted in April 2009, gross greenhouse gas emissions were equivalent to 75.6 million tonnes carbon dioxide equivalent (referred to as million tonnes). This equates to a 13.7 million tonne (22 per cent) rise in gross greenhouse gas emissions since 1990 from the five sectors listed in Annex A to the Kyoto Protocol (Box 1, Section 3).

Annex A to the Kyoto Protocol does not include emissions or removals from the land use, land-use change and forestry sector. Internationally accepted practice in reporting under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is to report gross emissions. The annual changes in New Zealand’s gross greenhouse gas emissions are shown in Figure 2. New Zealand’s full inventory submission can be obtained from the website of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (http://unfccc.int).

Figure 2: New Zealand’s gross emissions 1990–2007

Figure 2: New Zealand’s gross emissions 1990–2007ty>

Source: Ministry for the Environment (2009 a).

Note: Gross emissions include emissions from energy, agriculture, waste, industrial processes and solvents.

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