Summer 2020 078

Proposed New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme changes 2021

We want to hear from people interested or involved in the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (NZ ETS) about proposed regulation tweaks and updates to make it performs as well as it can to reduce emissions.  

The NZ ETS is updated every year and is a hugely important tool for Aotearoa’s efforts to reduce climate pollution (greenhouse gas emissions). It puts a price on emissions that encourages those who emit warming gases to reduce them by for example, investing in clean, climate-friendly technologies.

Some of the changes are more significant this year – so it’s worth a look at the consultation if you’re involved in the scheme.

We want to consult on updates to:

  • unit limit and auction price control settings
  • the default emissions factor for waste to reflect updated data on waste composition
  • default emissions factors for natural gas fields to reflect updated data on gas composition
  • default emissions factors and other reference data across ETS and SGG Levy regulations based on updated global warming potentials
  • the electricity allocation factor (EAF) methodology and value used in industrial allocation
  • the schedule of goods covered by the SGG levy.
  • We also want to talk about improving the methodology that accounts for the re-disposal of waste in the NZ ETS and implementing new regulations for an NZ ETS Auction Monitor.

Read our proposal and give your feedback on our consultation.