Environment and climate change research

Why we fund research

MPI aims to understand climate change and how it affects farming systems, livestock management, crops, horticulture, and forestry. We're also interested in how primary producers can adapt to a changing climate.

As part of our role as caretakers of the agricultural and forestry sectors, it is important we understand the work we and others are doing to mitigate and adapt to climate change. We also need to know how it's affecting New Zealand's environment.

New Zealand is in a relatively unique position for an OECD country with more than 50% of our greenhouse gas emissions produced by the agricultural sector. We are working to understand how we can improve and mitigate our emissions while maintaining or increasing agricultural productivity.

Main research programmes

Greenhouse gas inventory

We research how to improve our national forestry and agriculture greenhouse gas inventory and reporting.

Greenhouse gas inventory reports

Sustainable land management and climate change

We research the impacts of, and adaptation to, climate change, forestry, and agriculture greenhouse gas mitigation. This includes cross-cutting issues such as social science, adoption, and practice change.

Sustainable Land Management and Climate Change reports

Methane, nitrous oxide and soil carbon, and farm systems mitigation in agriculture

This research through the New Zealand Agricultural Gas Research Centre supports capability development and the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases.

The New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre website

Agricultural greenhouse gas

We are involved in internationally coordinated research into finding ways to grow more food without increasing greenhouse gas emissions.

Maximising forest carbon

We're researching new methods of measuring carbon stock changes in forest trees to improve accuracy. The research explores factors that affect how much carbon a forest stores. These factors include forest management activities.

Starting in 2023, the 4-year research is a joint programme between MPI, the Ministry for the Environment and the Department of Conservation. The research is part of a suite of work in the Maximising Carbon Sequestration initiative.

Maximising Forest Carbon draft science plan summary [PDF, 248 KB]

Other areas of focus

We partner with research organisations, other government departments, and the sector to investigate a broad range of environmental and climate change concerns.

Research

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Research to inform policy advice

MPI regularly commissions research, modelling, and analysis to ensure the policy advice we provide to the government is based on evidence.

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Estimating and mitigating agricultural greenhouse gas emissions

MPI advised the government on the Climate Change Response Act (Emissions Trading Reform) Amendment Bill, which was introduced to Parliament in October 2019. MPI commissioned the following reports to support the advice we provided.

Modelling of agricultural climate change mitigation policy scenarios

This report analyses the environmental and economic impacts of a range of policy options to address New Zealand’s agricultural methane and nitrous oxide emissions. It looks at different greenhouse gas and carbon sequestration prices and considers the impact in terms of emissions, carbon sequestration, agricultural production, agricultural profitability, and land use. The report was prepared by Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research.

Modelling of agricultural climate change mitigation policy scenarios [PDF, 619 KB]

Assessment of tools for estimating on-farm GHG emissions

MPI contracted AgResearch to review current options for estimating and reporting on-farm agricultural greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to support government policy decisions. The report includes a review of expert literature and reports on tools available to estimate GHG emissions. It drew on an expert stakeholder workshop with representatives from Beef + Lamb NZ, DairyNZ, Deer Industry New Zealand, Federated Farmers, the Fertiliser Association of New Zealand, Fonterra, Overseer Ltd, AgResearch, and officials from MPI and the Ministry for the Environment.

Assessment of tools for estimating on-farm GHG emissions [PDF, 952 KB]

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions research

Read reports on GHG emissions of producing and shipping NZ dairy, kiwifruit, apples, and wine to China and Europe.

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In 2021 MPI commissioned research to help understand the GHG footprints of producing and shipping New Zealand dairy, kiwifruit, apples, and wine to China and Europe.

The study was conducted by life cycle assessment (LCA) researchers at:

AgResearch
Massey University
Plant & Food Research
Agrilink.

LCA research quantifies the sustainability impacts of items throughout a supply chain. It is often used by food system people to compare the environmental and health impacts of food items throughout their life cycle. This study:

assessed the total GHG emissions of the selected products
looked at the proportion of emissions for each stage of the cycle: production, processing, and shipping
found that the distance New Zealand agri-food products travel to reach overseas markets (including Europe and Asia) has varying impacts on the calculation of a product’s overall carbon footprint depending on the product type.

Study conclusions

Dairy

The results suggest that New Zealand’s dairy sector has one of the lowest GHG footprints for milk production in the world, including when incorporating distance to market.
Depending on the type of dairy exports (long life milk, whole milk powder) shipping accounts for 2 to 9% of total GHG emissions. This is consistent with similar LCA research conducted in 2009 on the New Zealand dairy sector.
The ultra-high-temperature (UHT) milk produced in New Zealand and exported to China has a lower carbon footprint than UHT milk produced locally in China. This is mainly attributed to the nature of the farming system in NZ.
Shipping UHT milk to China represents 9% of the total emissions. For whole milk powder the shipping emissions to China represents only 2% of the total carbon footprint.
Shipping whole milk powder (WMP) to Europe represented only 3% of the total emissions, with the final footprint being similar to WMP exported to China (1.21 and 1.19 kg CO2eq/L of milk, for Europe and China, respectively).

Kiwifruit and apples

The study found that a high proportion of kiwifruit (Hayward variety) and apples emissions are attributed to transport. This is due to their emissions from production being very low. Shipping accounts for just over two-thirds of all GHG emissions for kiwifruit and half of total emissions for apples. Outside of transport, the next most significant stage for both is at the packhouse, followed by the orchard. (Note: This is to the retailer. Zespri’s own studies concluded that if consumer emissions and their waste are included, then shipping accounts for significantly less than this.)
There has been a 24% decrease in the carbon footprint of Hayward Kiwifruit delivered to a retailer in Germany from 1.64 to 1.24 kgCO2eq/kg at the retailer between 2008 and 2019. Kiwifruit orchard emissions have halved, driven primarily by a significant increase in yields and lower energy inputs. (Note: The Zespri study for Hayward Kiwifruit reported a value of 2.38 kgCO2eq/kg consumed but this includes consumer waste (skins and discarded fruit) emissions.)
Overall GHG emissions of New Zealand’s exported apples reduced by 13% between 2008 and 2019. This was due to:
- production efficiencies in the orchard
- economies of scale with the packhouses and cool stores
- the higher proportion of exports destined for Asia with shorter shipping distances on larger ships and consequently lower emissions.

Wine

For wine exports, the bottle remains the single biggest component of the carbon footprint. This has led to the wine industry addressing this such as shipping wine in bulk and light-weight bottles.
The horticulture and viticulture industries are working to improve data collection to better support future LCA research. As part of this initiative, Sustainable Winegrowing NZ (SWNZ) is soon to release its first National Report on Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Energy Use – 2021. SWNZ has also sent individualised GHG benchmarking reports to all its members. These reports were built upon an annual survey of resource use inputs from vineyard to winery.

Download the full research reports for dairy and horticulture

Updating the carbon footprint for selected New Zealand agricultural products an update for milk [PDF, 670 KB]

Updating the carbon footprint for selected New Zealand agricultural products an update for apples, kiwifruit and wine [PDF, 1.3 MB]