Emission Factors for New Zealand

Core Features

The dataset uses Input-Output Life Cycle Assessment (IO-LCA), also known as environmentally extended input-output analysis, to associate economic expenditure with upstream greenhouse gas emissions. Its current hybrid methodology combines New Zealand data with the Eora global database, allowing domestic production and international supply chains to be represented. Key characteristics include:

• New Zealand-Specific Factors: Factors are built using local sources including Statistics New Zealand, the Ministry for the Environment and Reserve Bank of New Zealand data.

• Industry and Commodity Factors: The dataset provides industry-level factors alongside commodity factors at basic prices and purchaser's prices, accommodating different types of transactions.

• Imported Emissions: International trade is incorporated into the calculations, an important consideration for a New Zealand economy that imports products for which domestic production may be limited or absent.

• Scope and GHG Breakdowns: The commercial dataset can be broken down by emissions scope and greenhouse gas and distinguishes emissions occurring in New Zealand from those embodied in imports.

• Audited and Peer-Reviewed Data: The 2025 release was externally peer-reviewed by Market Economics Ltd, while the commercial dataset covering 2023 was audited by McHugh & Shaw.

Closing Insights

Emission Factors for New Zealand is particularly useful where detailed supplier or activity data is unavailable or impractical to collect. Organizations can map procurement or general-ledger expenditure to the factors to establish a Scope 3 baseline, screen supply chains for emissions hotspots and determine where more detailed data collection is worthwhile. Financial institutions can similarly apply the dataset to investment and lending portfolios, while carbon-accounting software providers can license it for integration into their products.

Its local specificity is an important advantage. New Zealand organizations have historically had to use older or international spend-based factors, which may not adequately represent the country's economic structure, emissions profile and reliance on imported goods. Fletcher Building, for example, previously used UK DEFRA factors and reported that thinkstep-anz's New Zealand factors significantly reduced error for New Zealand spend data. The company subsequently used spend-based analysis to identify the suppliers responsible for the largest share of its supply-chain emissions and prioritize engagement.

The factors should nevertheless be treated as screening and estimation data rather than product-specific measurements. Because they represent national averages, thinkstep-anz does not recommend them for comparing individual products or suppliers or as the sole basis for a decarbonization strategy. Instead, organizations can progressively replace spend estimates for material categories with supplier- or activity-specific data.

The free license currently provides 2018 and 2021 industry and commodity factors for internal use. The commercial license adds more recent data, annual updates, customer support, and rights to use the data in commercial projects and integrate it into software.