“Adapt and thrive: Building a climate-resilient New Zealand” is Aotearoa New Zealand’s first national adaptation plan. The plan has been developed in response to a national climate change risk assessment prepared by the independent Climate Change Commission. The plan sets out what the government will do to enable better risk-informed decisions, drive climate-resilient development in the right locations, help communities assess adaptation options (including managed retreat) and embed climate resilience into all of the Government’s work.

In Budget 2022, the government announced that proceeds from the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme would form a new NZ$4.5 billion Climate Emergency Response Fund to fund policies relating to climate change mitigation, resilience and adaptation.

Under the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Act 2019, the Minister of Climate Change has powers to set 5-yearly emissions budgets for New Zealand. The first three of these were set in 2022 for the period through to 2035. The first <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://climate-laws.org/document/aotearoa-new-zealand-s-first-emissions-reduction-plan-erp_8eb1?l=new-zealand&amp;c=Policies" target="_blank">emission reduction plan</a> sets out an economy-wide approach to meet the first emissions budget. Later plans will be developed to reach later budgets.

<div>"Te hau mārohi ki anamata - Towards a productive, sustainable and inclusive economy" is Aotearoa New Zealand's first emissions reduction plan. It was developed following the advice of the <a href="https://www.climatecommission.govt.nz/our-work/advice-to-government-topic/inaia-tonu-nei-a-low-emissions-future-for-aotearoa/">Ināia tonu nei: a low emissions future for Aotearoa</a> report submitted by the Climate Change Commission in June 2021. The ERP contains strategies, policies and actions for achieving the first emissions budget. </div><div> Notable actions promoted by the ERP include the following:</div><ul><li>&nbsp;increasing access to electric vehicles (EVs), beginning the process of decarbonising heavy transport and freight and helping more people to walk, cycle and take public transport</li><li>supporting businesses to improve energy efficiency and move away from fossil fuels, such as coal, by continuing to roll out the Government Investment in Decarbonising Industry fund</li><li>banning new low- and medium-temperature coal boilers and phasing out existing ones</li><li>introducing an emissions pricing mechanism for agriculture</li><li>accelerating the delivery of agricultural emissions reduction tools and technologies for farmers and farming businesses through the establishment of a new Centre for Climate Action on Agricultural Emissions</li><li>reducing the amount of waste (including food waste) going to landfills, investing in waste infrastructure and expanding landfill gas capture</li><li>establishing native forests at scale to develop long-term carbon sinks and improve biodiversity</li><li>accelerating the supply of woody biomass to replace coal and other carbon intensive fuels and materials</li><li>driving mission-led innovation in some of the most challenging parts of our economy through climate innovation platforms and the wider research, science and innovation system</li><li>requiring refrigerants to be captured and destroyed when heating and cooling systems reach the end of their life.</li></ul>

This document sets the government's strategy on how to increase the production and use of green hydrogen in the country. It is part of the Aotearoa New Zealand Energy Strategy that is under development as of June 2022. The green paper is notably based on a range of scenarios examining several potential hydrogen futures.&nbsp;

This Order is made under section 2A(5D)﻿(a)&nbsp;of the&nbsp;Climate Change Response Act 2002 and defers the application of Subpart 4&nbsp;of Part 5 of Schedule 3 of the 2002 Act (which relates to animals–farmer activities) from 1 January 2024 to on and after 1&nbsp;January 2026.Schedule 3&nbsp;of the Act outlines the activities that are included in New Zealand’s emissions trading scheme.&nbsp;Subpart 4&nbsp;of Part 5 of Schedule 3 relates to animal farmer activities specifically (namely, farming, raising, growing, or keeping ruminant animals, pigs, horses, or poultry for reward or trade).The application of emissions trading for animal farmer activities is affected by&nbsp;section 219&nbsp;of the Act, under which a person is not liable under the Act to surrender units for their emissions in the first year in which the activities outlined in&nbsp;subpart 4&nbsp;of Part 5 of Schedule 3 of the Act applies.In effect, this means that the units for the emissions trading scheme for animal farmer activities will only need to start being surrendered from January 1 2027 onwards.

This Act amends the Climate Change Response Act 2002, in particular the allocation of emissions units under the emissions trading scheme. The Act amends the notice period for a failure to repay or surrender units under the scheme the Environmental Protection Agency is obliged to provide, as well as the calculation for determining the penalty for liability under the 2002 Act. The Act contains further amendments on costs for penalties under the 2002 Act, and further amends sections of the Acts on industrial allocations, including section 84, adjusting the validated allocation of trading units based on projected data.The Act comes into force the day after receiving Royal Assent; however, provisions on determining electricity allocation factors (Section 19); on modelling assumptions for market models used to determine the allocation factors for electricity (Section 21); and the transitional and savings-related provisions outlined in Schedule 1AA in Section 22(3) of the Act will only come into force on January 1st 2024.

The Land Transport (Clean Vehicles) Amendment Act 2022 introduced the legislative basis for two key transport policies:<ul><li>The Clean Car Standard; and</li><li>The Clean Car Discount</li></ul> The Clean Car Standard sets:<ul><li>CO2&nbsp;targets for vehicle importers from 2023 which will strengthen significantly each year through to 2027. CO2&nbsp;targets for 2028 onwards may be set later by regulation.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</li><li>Charges&nbsp;for vehicle importers who fail to achieve targets, and which rise over time.</li></ul> The Clean Car Discount applies charges on high emission vehicles to act as a purchase disincentive and to fund rebates for zero and low emission vehicles.

This Act amends the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013. It introduced mandatory reporting on climate-related risks for various entities, including equity and debt issuers listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange.

This Act aims at enabling an economic and social recovery from the COVID-19-induced crisis, through a promotion of employment and investments, while committing to sustainable management. It implements a fast-track consenting process of state support to specific projects including those that 1) contribute to New Zealand’s efforts to mitigate climate change and transition more quickly to a low-emissions economy, or 2) strengthen environmental, economic, and social resilience, in terms of managing the risks from natural hazards and the effects of climate change (article 19).&nbsp; Article 20 states that applications for referral must include a description of whether and how the project would be affected by climate change and natural hazards.&nbsp; Projects listed in the document notably relate to buildings and transport infrastructure.

AGN - Views on Elements for the Consideration of Outputs of the Global Stocktake, Submission to the Global Stocktake from Zambia, African Group of Negotiators in 2023

New Zealand. Biennial Reports (BR). BR 5., Biennial Report from New Zealand in 2022

New Zealand. National Communication (NC). NC 8., National Communication from New Zealand in 2022

New Zealand. 2022 National Inventory Report (NIR), National Inventory Report from New Zealand in 2022

Te hau mārohi ki anamata - Transitioning to a low-emissions and climate-resilient future: AOTEAROA NEW ZEALAND'S LONG-TERM LOW-EMISSIONS DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY, Long-Term Low-Emission Development Strategy from New Zealand in 2021

Forests Amendment Act 2004

Law passed

This Act amended the 1949 Forests Act to prohibit the felling of indigenous timber and the export of indigenous forest produce. It requires that sustainable forest management plans be developed for indigenous forest land, and that sustainable forest management permits may be granted to authorise the harvest and milling of indigenous timber that comprises less than 10% of the quantity of timber in the permitted area, and in total volume comprises no more than 250-500 cubic metres (depending on species). Principles for Commercial Plantation Forest Management in New Zealand were published in 2004 and an Environmental Code of Practice was published in 2007, both of which aim to support the sustainable management of forestry in NewZealand, including an element of controlling deforestation. 
 
A further amendment was inserted by the Climate Change Response Amendment Act 2006 and provided the framework for the Permanent Forest Sink Initiative which was a precursor to the inclusion of the forestry sector in the NZ ETS.

Forests Amendment Act 2004

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