Auckland's greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) profile

Auckland's key greenhouse gas emitting sectors

​Greenhouse gas emissions produced in Auckland can be broken down in to five key sectors.

The emissions data is from Auckland’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory 2016 (PDF, 1.45 MB) the latest data available at the time of writing.

Transport

This sector consists of emissions from private and light commercial vehicles, trucks, buses, trains, ferries and other ships and aviation.

It is Auckland’s biggest source of emissions at 43.6 per cent of our total emissions, with 86 per cent of this from travel by road.

Stationary energy

This sector includes emissions from energy consumption in buildings, including electricity and natural gas, and energy use in manufacturing and construction.

It generates 26.6 per cent of Auckland’s total emissions.

Industrial processes and product use

This sector consists mostly of non-energy related GHG from industrial processes, which in Auckland, are associated with steel production.

GHG emissions from industrial product use are mainly associated with the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFC) and perfluorocarbons (PFC) which are used as refrigerants in air conditioning units and refrigerators.

This sector generates about 20.2 per cent of Auckland’s total emissions.

Agriculture

Agriculture emissions include methane and nitrous oxide from livestock, animal wastes and fertiliser use. Agricultural energy use, such as for heating greenhouses, is classified differently and sits under the Stationary energy sector.

This sector generates about 6.4 per cent of Auckland’s total emissions.

Waste

Emissions from landfilled waste and wastewater treatment are reported for this sector, with emissions from decomposing waste in landfills responsible for most reported emissions.

This sector generates about 3.1 per cent of Auckland’s total emissions.

Activities and associated emissions across the five sectors

The graph below shows further detail on the activities and associated emissions across these five sectors.

Auckland’s GHG emissions profile and the climate actions modelled to develop the illustrative decarbonisation pathway are based on production-based emissions (sector-based emissions), primarily from emissions generated within Auckland’s boundary and grid supplied energy.

It is also important to consider climate action in the context of consumption-based GHG emissions relating to the consumption of goods and services in Auckland that give rise to emissions outside of Auckland’s boundary, e.g. certain construction materials and imported food.

Production-based emissions and consumption-based emissions are accounted for differently and further work is underway to understand Auckland’s consumption emissions profile.

Although our emissions reduction targets relate to production-based emissions, some of the actions in this plan also focus on reducing consumption-based emissions. This includes several actions in the Built environment, Economy, Communities and coast and Food priorities.

Auckland’s GHG emissions are reported in line with the Global Protocol for Community-scale Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventories (GPC), a robust framework for accounting and reporting city-wide GHG emissions.