Dunedin's emissions

Understanding where Dunedin’s emissions come from helps us focus on the changes that will make the biggest difference.

The Dunedin City GHG Emissions Inventory measures the greenhouse gases produced within Dunedin’s boundary each year. This includes emissions from transport, energy use, agriculture, waste, and other activities.

Read Dunedin's Emissions Inventory

Latest results

For the year 2024/25, Dunedin’s gross emissions were 1.42 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO₂e).

Down by 13% from 2018/19

When carbon absorbed by trees and forests is taken into account, Dunedin’s net emissions were 1.12 million tCO₂e in 2024/25.
This shows measurable progress towards the city’s zero carbon goal, while highlighting the further reductions still needed.

The Zero Carbon Plan sets out the pathway for reducing emissions across Dunedin. It identifies the changes needed across the city and the key areas where the Dunedin City Council can take action to help achieve the city’s zero carbon goal.

Ōtepoti Dunedin's Zero Carbon goal

In 2019, Dunedin set a goal to become a Zero Carbon city. In September 2026, the city updated its emissions reduction targets.

Dunedin’s targets are:

30% reduction in emissions by 2030/31 (excluding biogenic methane)
Net zero emissions by 2040 (excluding biogenic methane)

These targets use 2018/19 as the baseline year.

What does net zero mean?

“Net zero” means balancing the greenhouse gases emissions released into the atmosphere with the amount of carbon dioxide removed from the atmosphere. For Dunedin's target, biogenic methane is excluded.

Trees and other vegetation remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through a natural process called carbon sequestration.

Dunedin can reach net zero emissions, excluding biogenic methane, by reducing total emissions by 40% and increasing carbon sequestration by 64%, compared with 2018/19 levels. Achieving this will require significant reductions in emissions from transport, stationary energy, agriculture, and industrial processes and product use.

Reducing biogenic methane

Biogenic methane is methane produced by living organisms, including livestock and the breakdown of organic waste.

The city’s biogenic methane reduction targets are:

10% reduction by 2030
35 to 47% reduction by 2050

The Zero Carbon Plan

The Zero Carbon Plan sets out the changes needed across Dunedin to become a Zero Carbon city. It also outlines what the Dunedin City Council is doing to support the city to achieve its Zero Carbon goals.

Where Dunedin’s emissions come from

In 2024/25, the largest sources of emissions across Dunedin are:

Transport – 44%
Agriculture – 39%
Energy used in buildings and industry – 12%
Waste – 3%
Industrial processes – 2%

This means most of the change needed to reduce emissions will involve how we travel, how energy is used, and how land is managed.

Two types of emissions we track

There are two different emissions profiles tracked for Dunedin.

City emissions

These include emissions from all activities happening across the Dunedin area, such as farming, transport, homes, and businesses.

Reducing these emissions requires action from communities, businesses, organisations, and government working together.

Council emissions

These are emissions produced by the operations of the Dunedin City Council itself, such as running facilities, managing waste and wastewater, and operating vehicles.

The council is working to reduce these emissions while delivering services to the city.

Find out more about the Dunedin City Council’s emissions.

Why we measure emissions

Dunedin City Council regularly updates the city’s emissions inventory to understand how emissions are changing over time and where reductions are happening.

This information helps guide climate action by showing where the biggest sources of emissions are and where efforts to reduce them can have the greatest impact.

Read Dunedin's Emissions Inventory

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