New Zealand’s environmental performance is a mixed bag according the latest report from the OECD, with greenhouse gas emissions and waste disposal looking particularly poor compared to other developed countries.
The Environment at a Glance 2015 report draws on international data to compare countries across a wide rang of environmental indicators. Some of the key rankings for New Zealand include:
- third lowest in the OECD in terms of exposure to particulate matter (PM2.5) pollution
- fifth highest for greenhouse gas emission per capita (17 tonnes equivalent CO2 per capita)
- worst in waste disposal, with an apparent 100 per cent of waste sent to landfill (a statistic debated by the Ministry for the Environment)
- number one for spending of government R&D budget on environmental research (10 percent of total R&D budget).
Coverage of the report’s analysis of New Zealand includes:
MSN NZ News:NZ Shamed in OECD enviro report
3 News: Environment report shows NZ isn’t that green
Radio New Zealand: Ministry blasts report on NZ’s environment record