Road motor vehicle emissions

Road motor vehicles emit a range of air pollutants from their exhausts, and from brake and tyre wear. They are the main human-made source of nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide emissions. Exposure to these pollutants can damage health, with effects ranging from respiratory irritation to cancer.

Road motor vehicles range from passenger vehicles to heavy commercial vehicles, including petrol and diesel vehicles. Vehicles for use in farm and construction are not included. While road motor vehicle travel predominantly involves petrol vehicles (approximately 73 percent of vehicle kilometres travelled), diesel vehicles (approximately 27 percent of vehicle kilometres travelled) contribute the majority of air pollutants from road motor vehicles – specifically particulate matter and nitrogen oxides (NIWA, 2015; Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, 2015).

This dataset relates to the "Road motor vehicle emissions" measure on the Environmental Indicators, Te taiao Aotearoa website.