The Government is encouraging New Zealand’s voluntary nature and carbon markets to grow. This is backed by a new assurance role to give buyers, landowners and others confidence in what they’re investing in by recognising and endorsing high-quality schemes and methodologies.
The Government is encouraging New Zealand’s voluntary nature and carbon markets to grow. This is backed by a new assurance role to give buyers, landowners and others confidence in what they’re investing in by recognising and endorsing high-quality schemes and methodologies.
Certain voluntary market schemes accredited by reputable international bodies were automatically recognised by the Government on 11 May 2026 when the Government's role was announced.
The Ministry for Cities, Environment, Regions and Transport has begun work on building an endorsement process for domestic schemes and methodologies fit for New Zealand’s context.
We have developed a draft document with criteria for this endorsement process, and the qualifications and experience required to make an assessment contributing to scheme endorsement decisions. The document is technical, mainly intended for voluntary market scheme operators and assurance practitioners, but will also be of interest to stakeholders interested in market integrity.
We are seeking your feedback on:
- scheme endorsement criteria
- explanatory material for the integrity principles
- suitability of the criteria for assurance practitioners to assess schemes
- suitability of the criteria for project validation and verification providers.