Emission factor from MfE 2026-v2
Purchased Electricity - Electricity used
New Zealand · Well-to-use · 2025 onwards
Each kilowatt-hour drawn from the grid from 2025 counts as 0.1 kg CO₂e: 0.0787 at the power plants, 0.0147 for the fuel supplied to the power plants (estimated) and 0.00707 for the electricity lost on the network (estimated).
Value from 2025 onwards
0.1kgCO₂e/kWh
Location-based · Consumption mix · Biogenic CO₂ and land use excluded · GWP100 · AR5
FossilBio CH₄Land useBio CO₂GHG Protocol and IPCC inventoriesEstimatedAn estimate by open-climate.ai, not a number the publisher printed. Where an electricity publisher prints generation only, we add the grid losses and the fuel chain behind it, computed by one stated rule from the publisher's own generation value and public statistics. Learn more Summed by open-climate.ai from 3 parts, 2 of them estimated by us
- Region
- New Zealand NZ
- Boundary
- Well-to-use
- Data quality
- LowEstimated from a model of the region
- Licence
- Open · CC BY 4.0
Where 0.1 comes from
- Scope 20.078778.3%
- Fuel supplyEstimatedAn estimate by open-climate.ai, not a number the publisher printed. Where an electricity publisher prints generation only, we add the grid losses and the fuel chain behind it, computed by one stated rule from the publisher's own generation value and public statistics. Learn moreDerived by open-climate.aiScope 3, cat. 30.014714.6%
- Network lossesEstimatedAn estimate by open-climate.ai, not a number the publisher printed. Where an electricity publisher prints generation only, we add the grid losses and the fuel chain behind it, computed by one stated rule from the publisher's own generation value and public statistics. Learn moreDerived by open-climate.aiScope 3, cat. 30.007077%
Σ 0.1: open-climate.ai adds up the three parts. MfE prints generation. open-climate.ai estimates fuel supply and network losses from other published figures.
Reporting this kilowatt-hour under the GHG Protocol
Scope 2 0.0787 Scope 3, category 3 0.0217
You buy the energy, so its generation is your Scope 2.
The fuel behind it and the energy lost on the way to you are Scope 3, category 3.
The factor, standardised
Every factor on open-climate.ai answers the same questions in the same words, whatever the publisher. Open any ⓘ for the definition.
Electricity › Grid electricity · New Zealand · per kWh · Average
Well-to-use · Location-based · Excl. biogenic CO₂ · AR5
- BoundaryWell-to-useOne unit of energy as consumed, priced from the well to the point of use: the well-to-tank chain plus the burn for a fuel; generation, its well-to-tank and the transmission and distribution losses for a delivered carrier (electricity, steam or hot water, chilled water). Learn more
- Well-to-use
- Fuel supply, generation and network losses
- Calculation approachLocation-based uses the average grid mix where the electricity was consumed; market-based uses the supplier contract or the residual mix. The two can differ by an order of magnitude on the same kilowatt-hour, so they are never interchangeable. Learn more
- Location-based, consumption mix
- GWP methodWhich IPCC assessment report's warming potentials convert each gas to CO₂e, and over how many years the warming is counted (GWP100: 100 years). Learn more
- IPCC AR5, 100-year horizon
- Not on the record; set from MfE's method notes
- CO₂e basisWhich carbon the CO₂e counts. Fossil only leaves out biogenic methane, land-use change and biogenic CO₂; excl. biogenic CO₂ counts biogenic methane but not the other two; net total counts every pool, net of removals. The same activity on two bases is two different numbers. Learn more
- Excl. biogenic CO₂FossilBio CH₄Land useBio CO₂GHG Protocol and IPCC inventories
- Not split by gas; CO₂e only
- Life cycle
- Upstream: coveredProduction: coveredDownstream: not applicableEnd of life: not applicable
Low quality · Open licence · 2010 to now
All values
28 values, one per year back to 2010. Every one is location-based, consumption mix, biogenic CO₂ and land use excluded, AR5 GWP100, so the years compare directly. Tap a bar.
2025 onwards0.1Default valueDerived by open-climate.ai
| AppliesYears | TotalkgCO₂e/kWh |
|---|---|
| 0.0354Derived by open-climate.ai | |
| 0.1Default valueDerived by open-climate.ai | |
| 0.147Derived by open-climate.ai | |
| 0.0849Derived by open-climate.ai | |
| 0.138Derived by open-climate.ai | |
| 0.113Derived by open-climate.ai | |
| 0.127Derived by open-climate.ai | |
| 0.171Derived by open-climate.ai | |
| 0.166Derived by open-climate.ai | |
| 0.0498Derived by open-climate.ai | |
| 0.068Derived by open-climate.ai | |
| 0.095Derived by open-climate.ai | |
| 0.128Derived by open-climate.ai | |
| 0.0979Derived by open-climate.ai | |
| 0.0981Derived by open-climate.ai | |
| 0.104Derived by open-climate.ai | |
| 0.157Derived by open-climate.ai | |
| 0.154Derived by open-climate.ai | |
| 0.14Derived by open-climate.ai | |
| 0.124Derived by open-climate.ai | |
| 0.131Derived by open-climate.ai | |
| 0.117Derived by open-climate.ai | |
| 0.148Derived by open-climate.ai | |
| 0.155Derived by open-climate.ai | |
| 0.185Derived by open-climate.ai | |
| 0.219Derived by open-climate.ai | |
| 0.176Derived by open-climate.ai | |
| 0.191Derived by open-climate.ai |
- Default: what search and the API return when you ask for nothing specific
- Derived by open-climate.ai
What this number covers
The path of one kilowatt-hour, from the fuel to your meter. Every step on it is counted.
Fuel supply
Extracting, processing and transporting the fuel the plants burn
IncludedScope 3, cat. 30.0147Generation
Producing the electricity at the power plants that make up the mix
IncludedScope 20.0787Network losses
Electricity lost between the plant and your meter, which still had to be generated
IncludedScope 3, cat. 30.00707Your meter
1 kWh used. The factor is per kWh measured here.
= 0.1
Outside this boundary
- Building the power plants
- Building the grid
Capital goods and infrastructure sit outside every well-to-use factor, in every library.
Gases
MfE publishes this factor as CO₂e only, with no split by gas. The CO₂e leaves biogenic CO₂ and land-use carbon out; methane from biogenic sources is counted.
From MfE's record to a comparable factor
MfE publishes one of the three parts; open-climate.ai estimated the others and added them all up to this total. Here is each field as printed and what open-climate.ai made of it.
The total and its parts
Each part has its own page. Use a part on its own when you report Scope 2 and Scope 3 separately; never add a part to the total.
About this factor
Source and licence
- Value
- Summed by open-climate.ai from its parts
- Publisher
- New Zealand Ministry for the Environment (Manatu Mo Te Taiao)
- Library
- MfE 2026-v2
- Published
- 29 May 2026
The values and their metadata are served in full and may be reused with credit to the publisher.
Cite this factor
Contains data from the Ministry for the Environment (New Zealand), Measuring Emissions Catalogue 2026-v2, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Includes factors MfE derives from the UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) conversion factors and from the Cornell Hotel Sustainability Benchmarking Index (HSBI). Normalised by open-climate.ai, https://open-climate.ai/factors/libraries/mfe_nz/ (CC BY 4.0). https://open-climate.ai/factors/ef-mfenz-purchased_electricity-nz-kwh-well_to_use-aac4f38f/?v=efv1-7fc28fec2c667d356dae4b77669b4884
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Tell us which value and why. We check it against the source and answer within a week.