About the Carbon Neutral Government Programme

The programme's aim is to accelerate the reduction of emissions within the public sector. The CNGP launched in December 2020.

CNGP participants should

• measure, verify and report their emissions annually
• set gross emissions reduction targets and longer-term reduction plans
• introduce a plan to reduce their organisation’s emissions
• offset remaining gross emissions from 2050 to achieve carbon neutrality.

The immediate priority is to reduce emissions by

• phasing out coal-fired boilers from the public sector, with a focus on removing the largest and most active by the end of 2025. All coal boilers in New Zealand state schools were decommissioned by 11 April 2025 and have been replaced with alternative heating systems, including wood pellet boilers, wood chip boilers, and heat pumps.
• optimising the size of agencies’ car fleets and purchasing electric vehicles or plug-in hybrids if a full electric is not appropriate, unless this is not possible due to operational requirements (for those mandated to apply the Government Procurement Rules)
• requiring NABERSNZ, a system for rating the energy efficiency of office buildings, from January 2021 for agencies that occupy large office space (over 2,000m²) and are covered by the Property Functional Leadership mandate

The Carbon Neutral Government Programme has been supported by the State Sector Decarbonisation Fund (SSDF) to invest in low-emissions heating, cooling, electric vehicles and energy-efficient lighting. The SSDF co-funded 126 projects and was fully spent in 2023.

State Sector Decarbonisation Fund (EECA website).

From December 2022:

• all departments, departmental agencies and the executive branch will report on their emissions, gross emissions reduction targets and reduction plans from the 21/22 financial year onwards.
• See Cabinet Minute

From December 2023:

• all Crown agents are to report their emissions, gross emissions reduction targets and reduction plans from the 2022/23 financial year onwards.
• See All of Government direction [Parliament]

There are three organisations responsible for managing the programme across the government:

• Originally the Ministry for the Environment (MfE), now Ministry for Cities, Environment, Regions and Transport (MCERT) 
• EECA, the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority
• the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE)

View the organisations participating in the CNGP (PDF, 260KB)

If you have a question on the programme email cngp@mfe.govt.nz.