Amendment to the second emissions reduction plan
The Government has published an amended second emissions reduction plan to reflect its revised approach to reducing agricultural emissions.
The second emissions reduction plan was released in December 2024 and sets out the Government’s plan to meet the second emissions budget, which is from 2026 – 2030.
Emissions budgets are limits New Zealand sets on the amount of net emissions it produces in a period of time.
The Government published an amendment to the second emissions reduction plan on 29 January 2026 to reflect changes in policy that were announced last year.
In October 2025, the Government announced it will not be progressing with an on-farm emissions pricing system by 2030.
The Government carried out consultation on an amendment to the second emissions reduction plan over November 2025. The amendment reflects the Government’s revised approach to reducing agricultural emissions.
The Government remains committed to a technology-led approach to reducing agricultural emissions and will leverage market-led schemes that support farmers to adopt new ways of reducing emissions.
The projections show that New Zealand remains on track to meet its first and second emissions budgets.
Removing on-farm emissions pricing from the second emissions reduction plan is expected to have a minor impact in the second emissions budget period, and is not expected to impact our ability to meet the second emissions budget.
The amendment consists of an updated second emissions reduction plan, to be read alongside a new supporting document, the ‘January 2026 amendment addendum’. The addendum sets out how the amended second emissions reduction plan will meet the second emissions budget.
The following changes have been made to the updated plan:
- The agriculture chapter has been fully updated to reflect the Government’s revised approach.
- Elsewhere, references to agricultural emissions pricing impacted by the amendment are highlighted as superseded by the amendment.
- Additional signposting has been added to relevant chapters to help readers cross reference to the most recent official emissions projections (rather than those from 2024, when the plan was originally published). Official projections are updated annually.