Climate change in New Zealand - statistics & facts
Climate change has emerged as one of the biggest environmental challenges facing New Zealand. Higher temperatures, increased flooding frequency, greater water resource demand, sea level rise, and loss of biodiversity are just a few of the consequences of changing global climate patterns. The impact, if not mitigated, will be felt across a range of industries, including those that the country relies on for economic prosperity.
Government policy will be crucial in driving the country’s success in emissions reduction across all sectors, not only in the agriculture industry. The country’s energy strategy, for example, is concentrating on transitioning to cleaner sources, such as hydro, geothermal, and wind energy, to support future consumption. The country has already seen a shift to using renewable energy sources to meet most of its electricity demand, with an ambitious goal of 100 percent renewable electricity by 2030.
New Zealand’s climate targets
In 2016, New Zealand signed the Paris Agreement, a global agreement setting future emissions targets to mitigate climate change. New Zealand’s primary industry has the highest share of greenhouse gas emissions across all industries and the household sector. As such, much of the discussion on reducing emissions has been focused on this sector. Significant quantities of methane, nitrous oxide, and carbon dioxide are generated from livestock farming and horticulture, making the agriculture industry the largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in the country. Accordingly, New Zealand has joined other countries in the Global Methane Pledge, a pledge to take voluntary actions to collectively reduce global methane emissions by 30 percent from 2020 levels by 2030.Government policy will be crucial in driving the country’s success in emissions reduction across all sectors, not only in the agriculture industry. The country’s energy strategy, for example, is concentrating on transitioning to cleaner sources, such as hydro, geothermal, and wind energy, to support future consumption. The country has already seen a shift to using renewable energy sources to meet most of its electricity demand, with an ambitious goal of 100 percent renewable electricity by 2030.
