NZ carbon dioxide emissions rose 22 pct in '90s
Date: 28-Jun-01
Country: NEW ZEALAND
The latest annual report on New Zealand's energy sector shows that gross carbon dioxide emissions grew two percent between 1999 and 2000, Energy Minister Pete Hodgson said in a statement.
"This data represents the size of the challenge faced by New Zealand in meeting its climate change commitments," Hodgson said.
New Zealand's overall carbon dioxide emissions from the energy and industrial process sectors increased by 22 percent between 1990 and 2000, up from 20 percent the previous decade.
The 1997 Kyoto Protocol, named for the city in Japan where it was signed, calls for industrialised countries to trim output of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, by an average of 5.2 percent from 1990 levels, by the year 2012.
The Kyoto treaty obliges New Zealand to cut its greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2008-2012, or take responsibility for emissions above that level, Hodgson said.
New Zealand's gross carbon dioxide emissions in 2000 were 31.1 million tonnes in 2000, compared to 25.5 million in 1990.
New Zealand plans to announce in November a set of steps to try to meet its Kyoto objectives.
The government is also considering negotiated greenhouse pacts for energy-intensive industries and those with high emissions levels, in an expansion of its current voluntary agreements programme.