Skip to main content.

Return to the point in the document where this figure is located.

Table 5.1: Major greenhouse gas emissions from the world, the OECD and New Zealand, 1993.
Greenhouse Gases Total emissions (millions of tonnes) Per capita emissions (kilograms per person)
World OECD nations New Zealand NZ's share1 World OECD nations New Zealand NZ:World ratio NZ: OECD ratio
Carbon dioxide 21,826 10,944 27.3 0.1 3,940 11,350 8,680 2.2:1 0.8:1
100-year GWP2 21,826 10,944 27   3,940 11,350 8,680    
Methane 261 67.8 1.6 0.6 47 71 455 9.7:1 6.4:1
100-year GWP2 5,481 1,424 133     987 1,491 9,555  
Nitrous oxide3 4 unknown 0.05 1.2 0.7 unknown 13 18.6:1 unknown
100-year GWP2 1,240   15   226   4,030    

Sources: Ministry for the Environment (1997); OECD (1995); Sherlock et al. (1996); World Resources Institute (1996).

1 New Zealand's emissions as a percentage of the world total (New Zealand had 0.06 percent of the world population in 1993)

2 GWP=Global Warming Potential in CO2 equivalents (see Table 5.3)

3 Nitrous oxide emissions from soil etc. are very difficult to estimate from current data and have a very wide margin of error.

Return to the point in the document where this figure is located.