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Greenhouse Gas Inventory Research fund
Find out about Greenhouse Gas Inventory Research (GHGIR) funding.
About Greenhouse Gas Inventory Research funding
The Greenhouse Gas Inventory Research (GHGIR) fund aims to improve the reporting of greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture, forestry, and other land use.
It supports the Ministry for Primary Industry's (MPI's) component of the New Zealand Greenhouse Gas Inventory. MPI compiles and calculates greenhouse gas emissions and sequestration from agriculture , forestry, and other land use. This is reported to:
- New Zealand Greenhouse Gas Inventory
- United Nations under the Paris Climate Agreement.
Find out about greenhouse gas reporting
The fund also supports the development of land-use projections, including afforestation and deforestation. These projections show how carbon accounting rules lead to changes in land use.
The GHGIR fund was established in the early 2000s and was independently reviewed in 2020.
Independent review of GHGIR fund [PDF, 436 KB]
Aims of the GHGIR fund
The GHGIR fund supports research to improve:
- MPI’s component of the New Zealand Greenhouse Gas Inventory
- reporting of emissions from agriculture, forestry, and other land use.
This research helps inform policy decisions. It also helps the agriculture and forestry sectors manage their greenhouse gas emissions.
The research includes work to:
- review and update how emissions are calculated for items in the inventory
- calculate emissions from items that aren't in the inventory
- account for new forms of mitigation
- support policymakers
- help the agriculture and forestry sectors manage their greenhouse gas emissions.
The GHGIR fund has $2.9 million of funding available for new projects in the 2024-25 financial year, and a further $3.4 million is available for the 2025-26 financial year.
Examples of GHGIR research
GHGIR has funded 106 projects in the last seven years. Most of these have been related to agriculture, although 17 have focused on forestry.
List of reports from some previous GHGIR projects
Greenhouse Gas Inventory Research fund 2024 priorities [PDF, 368 KB]
Projects approved from the 2023 funding round
| Project | Research organisation | Funding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
|
N2O Emissions Model Essential Preliminaries |
AgResearch |
$157,000
|
This project aims to undertake a systematic and comprehensive analysis of the needs for any process-based N2O model, and the implications (benefits and challenges, quantitatively where possible) for implementing a process-based model.
|
|
Nitrous oxide emissions from fertilisers |
AgResearch |
$423,000
|
The aim of this project is to collect additional field trial measurements of N2O from the application of synthetic nitrogen (N) fertilisers in autumn 2024.
|
|
Land Use Change from Climate Change |
AbacusBio
|
$117,400
|
This project aims to review and analyse available scientific literature and modelling of current and optimal land use in New Zealand regions to 2070 under three different warming scenarios. |
|
Land use in a changing climate |
Lincoln University
|
$120,000 |
This project aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of potential future land use in New Zealand under a changing climate. It also aims to develop a screening tool to support future land use decisions that is informed both by the scenarios as well as more detailed studies of impacts following historic extreme weather events. |
|
Land use change from freshwater policies |
AbacusBio |
$122,000
|
This project aims to determine what the impacts of freshwater and biodiversity policies have been and will be on land use over the next decade in each New Zealand region.
|
|
Weight change in cattle |
AgResearch |
$430,000 |
The aim of the project is to model body weight change in growing heifers and dairy cows due to seasonal production stage or disease, and its effect on predicted greenhouse gas emissions.
|
|
Dairy cattle liveweight variation |
DairyNZ |
$150,000 |
Liveweight is a factor that affects methane output. This project aims to estimate liveweight and change in liveweight for dairy cattle.
|
|
Grassland biomass carbon stock dynamics
|
AgResearch |
$75,000 |
This project aims to provide a meta-analysis of estimates of the vegetation biomass carbon stocks for grassland types and the impacts of environment and management.
|
|
Quantifying GHG emissions in Cropland |
Plant and Food Research (PFR) |
$205,117 |
The project aims to review estimates of biomass carbon stocks for croplands. Outcomes will include updated methods, revised parameters, and improved data sources and emission factors tailored to estimate emissions from cropland burning and vegetable/arable systems.
|
|
Biochar GHG inventory methodology |
Environmental Accounting Services (EAS) |
$109,360 |
This project aims to develop a method for inclusion of biochar amendments to soil in New Zealand’s GHG inventory, and design a comprehensive biochar database to inform this methodology.
|
|
CO2 effects on forest growth |
Manaaki Whenua - Landcare Research (MWLR) |
$100,000 |
This project aims to review past experimental and modelling work on the effects of CO2 on forest growth. It will focus on New Zealand’s native and exotic forests and summarise the expected effects on forests under New Zealand’s specific conditions.
|
|
Delineating inland and coastal wetlands |
Manaaki Whenua - Landcare Research (MWLR) |
$100,000 |
The aim of the project is to map delineation of New Zealand’s coastal and inland areas, and an approach for delineating inland and coastal vegetated wetlands in New Zealand’s Land Use Map (LUM) that is consistent with guidance set out in the Supplement, and with existing LUM mapping methodologies.
|
Who to contact
If you have questions about the GHGIR fund, email ghgirfund@mpi.govt.nz
