Climate change updates

Climate Change & Business Conference
26 Aug 25

Anderson Lloyd is proud to be a sponsor of the 17th annual Climate Change & Business Conference, being held in Tāmaki Makaurau | Auckland. The Climate Change and Business Conference is delivered by the Sustainable Business Council NZ, Environmental Defence Society (EDS), and Climate Leaders ...

Carbon Forestry NZ Conference
21 Aug 25

We were pleased to once again be a sponsor of the Carbon Forestry NZ Conference held in Rotorua. The event brought together more than 300 industry leaders to discuss the latest developments in carbon forestry markets, legislation and emerging opportunities, with insights from an impressive ...

Chambers Climate Change Regulation 2025: A Chambers Global Practice Guide
29 Jul 25

We're pleased to share that the Anderson Lloyd Climate Change & ESG team has once again contributed as the sole authors of the New Zealand chapter to the newly released Chambers and Partners Climate Change Regulation 2025: A Chambers Global Practice Guide. In a time ...

Climate Change Response (Emissions Trading Scheme Agricultural Obligations) Amendment Act 2024
31 Jan 25

On the 26 November 2024 the Climate Change Response (Emissions Trading Scheme Agricultural Obligations) Amendment Act came into force. The act removes all agricultural activities from the NZ Emissions Trading Scheme. The Climate Change Response Act 2002 The Climate Change Response (Emissions Trading Scheme Agricultural ...

Coastal Wetland Blue Carbon Policy Research in Aotearoa
6 Sep 24

Anderson Lloyd has had the privilege of working on the Coastal Wetland Blue Carbon Policy Research in Aotearoa project. This has been a great opportunity to connect with people in the wider blue carbon community here in New Zealand and further afield. This report was ...

Updates to Emissions Trading Scheme settings
22 Aug 24

The Government has announced how many New Zealand units will be available for auction and price controls for the next five years.  The New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) is one of the Government's key tools for meeting New Zealand's climate targets and the Government ...

Discussion document released on New Zealand’s second Emissions Reduction Plan
16 Aug 24

New Zealand's second "Emissions Reduction Plan" for the period of 2026 – 30 is due to be released by the end of 2024. A discussion document released by the Ministry for the Environment in July provides insight as to how this plan may impact New ...

Climate Change Regulation 2024: A Chambers Global Practice Guide
13 Aug 24

The Anderson Lloyd Climate Change team are pleased to be the sole authors of the New Zealand chapter of Chambers Climate Change Regulation 2024: A Chambers Global Practice Guide. This chapter provides expert commentary on New Zealand's current and anticipated climate response, how this response ...

Government targets Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage to meet reduction commitments
1 Aug 24

Feedback on the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment's (MBIE) Proposal for a Regulatory Regime for Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage is due 5pm, 6 August. The Proposal provides an important opportunity for carbon emitters and potential sequesters alike to have their say on how ...

Solar Bay Maungaturoto Solar Farm project
30 Jul 24

Anderson Lloyd is very pleased to have supported Solar Bay, as lead project counsel, on the development and project financing of the Maungaturoto Solar Farm project, which achieved financial close on Friday. Our team of experts, led by Anton Trixl and Geoff Busch with support ...

Supreme Court opens door for private action to be brought to restrain greenhouse gas emissions
13 Feb 24

The Supreme Court has given the green light to allow a case brought against seven businesses responsible for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to proceed to trial. The Supreme Court in Smith v Fonterra[1] reversed the Court of Appeal's 2021 decision to strike out the case, ...

The Legal 500 Asia Pacific Green Guide 2024 Edition – Recommended Firm
4 Dec 23

Anderson Lloyd is pleased to be inducted into The Legal 500 Asia Pacific Green Guide 2024 Edition as a recommended firm, for a second year. The Legal 500 Green Guide is the first worldwide guide recognising the top law firms advising on issues around climate ...

What might the election results mean for land and property?
26 Oct 23

The general election results are in, with National and Act currently holding a slim majority. The formation of the next government will depend on the outcome of the special votes. With how the votes currently look, we thought it timely to look into some of ...

Sealord secures carbon credit deal with native forestry project
8 Sep 23

Anderson Lloyd are pleased to have helped Sealord secure a long term deal with NZ Carbon Farming and Te Arawa Fisheries for the generation of carbon credits as part of Sealord's commitment to net zero carbon by 2050. With $10m invested into this 10-year programme, ...

2023 Carbon Forestry Conference
5 Sep 23

Once again Anderson Lloyd proudly sponsored the 5th annual Carbon Forestry NZ Conference, held earlier this week in Rotorua. Dan Williams, Partner at Anderson Lloyd, chaired the opening conference session on International Markets and Domestic Developments. Over 300 industry professionals attended to hear from and workshop with ...

Proposed changes to the NZ Emissions Trading Scheme and Permanent Forest Category
17 Jul 23

Following a recent review of the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme by the Climate Change Commission, the government is consulting on both its proposal to reform the ETS and re-design the permanent forestry category. In March 2023, the Climate Change Commission undertook a review of ...

Climate Change Commission opens consultation on its draft advice to the Government on the second emissions reduction plan
18 May 23

The Climate Change Commission is seeking consultation on its draft advice to the Government on the strategic direction of New Zealand's second emissions reduction plan. Under the Climate Change Response Act 2002, the Climate Change Commission (Commission) is required to provide policy advice to the ...

Government to review New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS)
28 Mar 23

The review will seek to consider how the ETS can shift the balance of emissions reductions incentivised by the ETS from predominantly net emissions reductions, to gross emissions reductions. Background Gross emissions reductions are the actual decrease in emissions occurring. In contrast, net emissions reductions ...

Improving market governance of the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme
9 Dec 22

The Government has recently released a public discussion document relating to the governance framework of the Emission Trading Scheme. The Government has identified that the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (NZ ETS) lacks a market governance framework that efficiently deals with several risks within the ...

New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (NZ ETS) – Further update on Climate Change (Forestry) Regulations 2022
17 Nov 22

With several important changes to the NZ ETS due to come into effect on 1 January 2023, the Government has sought to provide further clarification as to how these changes might operate in practice. As previously highlighted by Anderson Lloyd in our article Carbon Forests, ...

Government Agricultural Emissions Proposal
20 Oct 22

The Government has released their agricultural emissions proposal document for consultation to the public. The Government has for the most part accepted the proposal put forward by He Waka Eke Noa (Partnership) except on a few key points. This has seemingly struck a midway ground ...

New Zealand Units – The Basics
23 Aug 22

The New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme is the key system used by the New Zealand Government to respond to climate change, while New Zealand Units are the primary currency of that system. What are NZUs? New Zealand Units (also known as NZUs or sometimes "carbon ...

An Introduction to Bioenergy and its Interface with Forestry
23 Aug 22

The Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Act 2019 introduced a net zero greenhouse gas emissions reduction target by 2050. Achieving this will require significant changes to fuel use in New Zealand as fossil fuel is a major contributor to the nation's emissions. Bioenergy is ...

Climate Change Commission releases advice on Emissions Trading Scheme unit limits and price control settings for 2023 – 2027
17 Aug 22

The Climate Change Commission has recommended changes to the way volume limits and prices are set in order to accelerate New Zealand's decarbonisation.   With New Zealand's proposed climate change policies and targets being set out in the recently released Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP), the Climate ...

Key takeaways from our first Emissions Reduction Plan
2 Aug 22

New Zealand's first Emissions Reduction Plan outlines how New Zealand will achieve its target emissions reductions from now until the end of 2025.  Following consultation with the public after the release of the Emission Reduction Plan discussion document last October, the Government released the final ...

Climate Change Commission advice on pricing agricultural emissions seeks more stick and less carrot.
18 Jul 22

The Climate Change Commission has released their second piece of advice to Government on assessing how ready farmers and the agricultural sector is for an emissions pricing system. Advice on 'readiness' of sector The advice is tailored to address 'readiness' in the sense of asking ...

He Waka Eke Noa recommendation and Climate Change Commission advice to Government
11 Jul 22

He Waka Eke Noa has recommended an alternative agricultural emissions pricing system that would sit outside the Emissions Trading Scheme. Background Under the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Act 2019 the Government legislated emissions reduction targets of reducing methane to 10% below 2017 levels ...

Managing Exotic Forestry Afforestation in the ETS
14 Apr 22

The Government has recently released proposals to change some of the forestry settings in the Emissions Trading Scheme. The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) has identified that the current settings in the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) are driving increased levels of exotic afforestation, particularly due ...

He Waka Eke Noa partnership releases discussion document outlining proposals for an agricultural emissions pricing scheme
9 Dec 21

Following on from the release of the Government's "Emissions Reduction Plan" discussion document in October, the He Waka Eke Noa partnership has now released its first discussion document outlining its proposals for an agriculture sector-specific emissions pricing scheme. In 2019, the Climate Change Response Act ...

“Emissions Reduction Plan” discussion document reveals possible implications for key sectors
9 Dec 21

New Zealand's first "Emissions Reduction Plan" is due to be released in May 2022. A discussion document released by the Ministry for the Environment in October provides insight as to how the plan may affect several key sectors.  On 31 May 2021 the Climate Change ...

Carbon Forests
12 Oct 21

With the dramatic increase in the price of NZUs over the last few years, a number of rural land owners are starting to think seriously about carbon forestry. Anderson Lloyd has advised a number of clients about the legal options and structures for implementing a ...

Ināia totu nei: A low emissions future for Aotearoa – Agri sector
5 Oct 21

In early June 2021, the Climate Commission published its report to the Government on its first three emissions budgets and directions for emissions reduction plan 2022-2025. The purpose of this article is to summarise the Commission's recommendation in respect of the Agri Sector, but first, ...

Native trees to be planted on unusable forestry land to protect waterways
16 Sep 21

Article published on Stuff website on Tuesday 7 September 2021 One of the country’s largest forestry plantation owners, Aratu Forests, has signed a 90-year agreement with eLandNZ to plant native trees on unusable land, creating permanent buffers alongside waterways. The partnership, brokered by law firm ...

Emissions Trading Scheme – auctions and how they work
13 Sep 21

After the third Emissions Trading Scheme auction saw the $50 price ceiling exceeded, the Government released additional credits into the market. We revisit how the auction process works and what happened at the latest auction on 1 September. Background Auctions were introduced as part of ...

Promised RM Reform on track – Exposure Draft released for public feedback
30 Jun 21

Cabinet has approved the exposure draft of the proposed Natural and Built Environments Act (NBA). The NBA will provide for land use and environmental regulation and will be the primary piece of legislation to replace the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA). The NBA, along with ...

ETS Reforms – Pricing considerations
8 Sep 20

The recent passing of the Climate Change Response (Emissions Trading Reform) Amendment Act makes a number of reforms to the ETS which are aimed at ensuring it is a more effective tool to help meet NZ's emission reduction targets. Key changes include the introduction of ...

Overview of the changes to the Climate Change Response (Emissions Trading Reform) Amendment Act
13 Aug 20

On 22 June 2020, the Climate Change Response (Emissions Trading Reform) Amendment Bill received royal asset, introducing updates to the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) In pursuit of improving the ETS, the Climate Change Response (Emissions Trading Reform) Amendment Bill (Bill) has received royal asset, amending ...

Proposed changes to the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme and Climate Change Response Act 2002
24 Feb 20

An updated version of this article can be found here -    After undertaking reviews of the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) in 2015 – 2016, the Government has now acknowledged the current ETS is not being utilised to its full potential. In pursuit ...

Update on Zero Carbon Bill and agricultural emissions
14 Nov 19

The Zero Carbon Bill has been passed with bi-partisan support, while the Government has agreed to work with farmers to reduce emissions outside of the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). Zero Carbon Bill The Government passed the Zero Carbon Bill last week with near unanimous support. ...

Government taking action on agricultural emissions
19 Jul 19

The Government has released details of its proposals for lowering agricultural emissions and is now seeking your feedback. Reducing agricultural emissions is a key part of the Government’s plans to transition to a low-emission economy and achieve its 2050 targets in the Zero Carbon Bill. ...