A report published by the Ministry for Economic Development earlier this week has shown that total energy emissions in 2008 were almost 4% higher than in 2007, predominantly due to a large increase in emissions from electricity generation. Dr Jim Renwick Science Leader at the National Institute for Water and Atmospheric research (NIWA) National Climate Centre told Science Media Centre that the report was an interesting read, and that he’d recently seen that based on OECD numbers only 65% of New Zealand’s electricity was from renewable resources, while two decades ago it was 80%.

My commentary on all of this is that New Zealand has a few issues, if we want to live up to our clean, green image. The transport sector is a key one - NZ is such a low population density place that good public transport is a bit of a struggle, hence the reliance on private motor vehicles. Investment in improved public transport, and in alternatives to fossil fuels for transport, are needed to reverse the recent trends in transport sector emissions.

New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions are rising at a rate double that of the United States. Last year the World Wildlife Fund reported New Zealand as having the worlds sixth largest eco-footprint.

Renwick believes the electricity situation will improve due to new investment coming in on renewable energy generation. Reducing agricultural emissions, which are a big part of New Zealand’s contribution to climate change, could be achieved through technological improvements, and by improved sustainable farming practices. The environmental group Greenpeace is currently campaigning to get New Zealand to commit to a 40% reduction in emissions by 2020 when prime minister John Key attends the United Nations climate summit in Copenhagen in December.