Is Auckland to Sydney short-haul or long-haul?

Short-haul. It is around 2,200 km, under the guide's 3,700 km split.

Which factor if I do not know the cabin class?

The average passenger row for the distance band.

Who publishes these factors?

The Ministry for the Environment, in Measuring emissions: A guide for organisations, with a new set of factors each year. The Ministry is now part of the Ministry for Cities, Environment, Regions and Transport. The factors are Crown copyright, licensed under CC BY 4.0.

We are a UK company with staff or a site in New Zealand. Which factor do we use?

Use the New Zealand factor for activity in New Zealand: its electricity, fuel bought there and travel within the country. Keep using the UK government factors for UK activity, and say in your report which set you used where.

International flight emission factor NZ 2026 (MfE, kg CO2e per passenger-km)

The 2026 Ministry for the Environment emission factor for a long-haul international flight (average passenger, without radiative forcing) is 0.09043 kg CO2e per passenger-km. With radiative forcing it is 0.1528 kg. Short-haul flights (under 3,700 km, such as across the Tasman) are 0.07559 kg without radiative forcing. These are from the 2026 guide, the only edition we hold for this factor, so there is no change from last year to show.

Updated 19 October 2026 by the Carbon Recycling team. Figures are from the Ministry for the Environment's 2026 emission factors (version 2, CC BY 4.0), checked against the published file on 19 October 2026.

Work out your international flight emissions

Passenger-km in a year

= 3.26 tonnes CO2e in 2026 (Scope 3 (business travel))5.50 tonnes including radiative forcing

Each passenger-km × 0.09043 kg CO2e, the Ministry for the Environment's 2026 figure (Long-haul (>3700km): Average passenger).

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International flights emission factors in the 2026 guide

Factor (as the Ministry names it)	Unit	kg CO2e	CO2	CH4	N2O
Long-haul (>3700km): Average passengerInternational Air Travel › Without Radiative Forcing	per passenger-km	0.09043	0.08913	0.00001	0.00129
Long-haul (>3700km): Average passengerInternational Air Travel › With Radiative Forcing	per passenger-km	0.1528	0.1515	0.00001	0.00129
Long-haul (>3700km): Economy classInternational Air Travel › Without Radiative Forcing	per passenger-km	0.06926	0.06826	0.00001	0.00099
Long-haul (>3700km): Economy classInternational Air Travel › With Radiative Forcing	per passenger-km	0.117	0.116	0.00001	0.00099
Long-haul (>3700km): Premium economy classInternational Air Travel › Without Radiative Forcing	per passenger-km	0.1108	0.1092	0.00001	0.00157
Long-haul (>3700km): Premium economy classInternational Air Travel › With Radiative Forcing	per passenger-km	0.1873	0.1857	0.00001	0.00157
Long-haul (>3700km): Business classInternational Air Travel › Without Radiative Forcing	per passenger-km	0.2008	0.198	0.00002	0.00285
Long-haul (>3700km): Business classInternational Air Travel › With Radiative Forcing	per passenger-km	0.3394	0.3365	0.00002	0.00285
Long-haul (>3700km): First classInternational Air Travel › Without Radiative Forcing	per passenger-km	0.277	0.273	0.00003	0.00394
Long-haul (>3700km): First classInternational Air Travel › With Radiative Forcing	per passenger-km	0.4681	0.4642	0.00003	0.00394
Short-haul (<3700km): Average passengerInternational Air Travel › Without Radiative Forcing	per passenger-km	0.07559	0.07466	0.00001	0.00092
Short-haul (<3700km): Average passengerInternational Air Travel › With Radiative Forcing	per passenger-km	0.1279	0.1269	0.00001	0.00092
Short-haul (<3700km): Economy classInternational Air Travel › Without Radiative Forcing	per passenger-km	0.07435	0.07344	0.00001	0.0009
Short-haul (<3700km): Economy classInternational Air Travel › With Radiative Forcing	per passenger-km	0.1258	0.1249	0.00001	0.0009
Short-haul (<3700km): Business classInternational Air Travel › Without Radiative Forcing	per passenger-km	0.1115	0.1102	0.00001	0.00135
Short-haul (<3700km): Business classInternational Air Travel › With Radiative Forcing	per passenger-km	0.1886	0.1873	0.00001	0.00135

CO2, CH4 and N2O are each gas's share of the total, in kg CO2e; a dash means the guide gives no figure for that gas. Every figure is from the 2026 guide; it is the only edition we hold, so there is no year-on-year column.

Worked example

Take one person flying Auckland to London and back, about 36,000 passenger-km. 36,000 passenger-km × 0.09043 kg CO2e = 3.26 tonnes CO2e, reported as Scope 3 (business travel). With radiative forcing, at 0.1528 kg per passenger-km, it is 5.50 tonnes.

How to use it

Pick the row by distance: the guide splits flights at 3,700 km, so trans-Tasman and Pacific trips are mostly short-haul and flights to Asia, the Americas and Europe long-haul. Then pick the class if you know it: business and first class seats take more room, so they carry a bigger share of the flight's emissions.

The guide publishes each factor with and without radiative forcing, the extra warming effect of flying at altitude. Say which you used and keep to it every year.

Staff flights are Scope 3 business travel (category 6). For a UK company with staff flying to or from New Zealand, the UK government factors also cover international flights; use one set consistently in a single report.

Which rules apply in New Zealand

The Ministry's guide is voluntary guidance for organisations measuring their greenhouse gas emissions, and follows the GHG Protocol and ISO 14064-1. Climate reporting entities under New Zealand's climate-related disclosures regime report under the External Reporting Board's Aotearoa New Zealand Climate Standards, and can use these factors for their Scope 1, 2 and 3 figures. Businesses of any size answering a customer's or a bank's request for emissions data can use them in the same way. Cite the guide and its year next to every figure.

UK companies with sites or staff in New Zealand should use these factors for that activity and the UK government factors for UK activity. In Carbon Recycling, set a site's country to New Zealand and its electricity is reported with the Ministry's factor. See reporting overseas sites for how the rest fits together.

Where to find your own figure

Your travel agent's or booking tool's report lists each flight's airports and cabin class. Add up the distance of every leg, not just the start and end.

Related emission factors

Working from home (New Zealand): 0.8161 kg CO2e per employee day
Taxi (New Zealand): 0.159 kg CO2e per km
Domestic flights (New Zealand): 0.1159 kg CO2e per passenger-km
All New Zealand emission factors
New Zealand grid electricity (Ember's estimate, every year since 2000)
UK emission factors and other countries

Source: Ministry for the Environment. 2026. Measuring emissions: A guide for organisations: 2026 emission factors (version 2). Crown copyright, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Carbon Recycling is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Ministry; the sums on this page are ours.