Climate Action Tracker New Zealand assessment

This country profile from the Climate Action Tracker, an independent scientific project run by Climate Analytics and NewClimate Institute, rates New Zealand's climate targets, policies and finance against the Paris Agreement's 1.5°C goal. The most recent full assessment on this page is dated 7 March 2023, so the ratings and figures shown are now more than three years old and may not reflect any policy changes since then.

The tracker rates New Zealand's overall climate action as "highly insufficient". At the time of assessment it found the country's policies were not on track to meet its 2030 target, which itself leans heavily on purchased international offsets and on forestry carbon sinks rather than cuts to emissions from agriculture, energy and industry. It also rated New Zealand's 2050 net zero target as "poor", largely because biogenic methane from agriculture and waste sits outside that target and stays exempt from the Emissions Trading Scheme.