Greenhouse gas emissions (industry and household): Year ended 2021

Greenhouse gas emissions (industry and household): Year ended 2021

Definitions and metadata

Environmental-economic accounts: Sources and methods (third edition) presents the data sources and methods used for each of Stats NZ’s environmental-economic accounts, including Greenhouse gas emissions (industry and household): Year ended 2021.

Economic activity is measured as chain-volume value added. Average annual changes relate to the 2007–21 period.

Industries are classified according to the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification 2006 (ANZSIC06), and align with economic statistics, such as GDP and employment.

System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA)

The SEEA production-based emissions estimates transform New Zealand’s Greenhouse Gas Inventory data to be consistent with economic classifications and concepts by changing the unit of analysis (from a process-based approach, for example, energy and waste, to the standard production-based industrial classification, ANZSIC06) and applying the residency principle. This means deducting emissions from non-residents operating on the domestic territory (for example, international tourists driving vehicles) and adding emissions from residents operating overseas (for example, international aviation or shipping).

The greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by industry and households are compiled using the SEEA framework, and show the contributions made by industry and household to emissions. These emissions estimates are aligned to economic statistics, allowing us to compare emissions with economic output and derive emissions intensity for each industry.

Emissions included in the accounts

The GHG emissions by industry and household accounts include the gross emissions from resident New Zealand industries and households, regardless of where the emission occurs. This is different to the Ministry for the Environment’s data in New Zealand’s Greenhouse Gas Inventory which records gross and net emissions on the domestic territory only. This difference in scope generally results in higher emissions being recorded in the greenhouse gas emissions by industry and household account, due to the deduction of emissions from non-residents operating on the domestic territory and addition of emissions from residents operating overseas. For more information please refer to Environmental-economic accounts: Sources and methods – Greenhouse gas emissions section.

Emissions are calculated for 116 industries, households, and tourism (a cross-cutting industry), for the following gas types:

• carbon dioxide (CO2)

• methane (CH4)

• nitrous oxide (N2O)

• hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)

• perfluorocarbons (PFCs)

• sulphur hexafluoride (SF6)

Emissions are expressed in carbon dioxide equivalents, which are the emissions of greenhouse gases weighted by their 100-year global warming potential.

Updates and improvements 2021

When updates/improvements are made to the methodology or input data used to compile the emissions estimates changes to the time series may occur. Revisions are applied to the whole timeseries, which means that data in the most recent version of the account is not comparable to figures published in previous releases.

The Greenhouse gas emissions (industry and households): Year ended 2021 account contain improvements made to the greenhouse gas inventory input data. These mostly cover the mining; electricity, gas, water, and waste services; manufacturing; and agriculture industries.

For specific information on updates made to the Greenhouse gas inventory, which flow through to the SEEA estimates, see Planned methodological improvements for Aotearoa New Zealand’s Greenhouse Gas Inventory 1990–2021.

Statistics New Zealand also incorporated the following methodological improvements and data updates:

• Adjustments to better account for use of fuels for different purposes, which affected the allocation of road transport and stationary energy emissions.
• We are now using an administrative data source, the business employment data collection to allocate stationary energy emissions to industry.
• Updates to national accounts statistics resulted in timeseries changes to both industry and household emissions series.

Relationship between annual and quarterly greenhouse gas emissions accounts

The annual GHG emissions account incorporates the latest New Zealand’s Greenhouse Gas Inventory data with comparable economic production data, to show industry and household emissions contributions.

Our quarterly GHG emissions account uses the annual emissions account as a base and, using indicators, projects future quarters, giving more timely emissions estimates. Greenhouse gas emissions (industry and household): September 2020 quarter – methodology and results has more information on the sources and methods used to create quarterly estimates.

Reference periods

Greenhouse gas emissions accounts are produced for a year ended December. This aligns with the Greenhouse Gas Inventory reference period.