The Emissions Trading Scheme and carbon forestry - a legal update

Authors: Dan Williams, Partner, Anderson Lloyd. Email: dan.williams@al.nz
Publication: New Zealand Journal of Forestry, Volume N.Z.J.For. 2022, Issue N.Z.J.For. 67(3) 2022, pp 10-14, Nov 2022
Publisher: New Zealand Institute of Forestry

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Abstract: The political environment for forestry has in recent times been dynamic, particularly in terms of changing law and regulation. These changes have had flow-on effects on the nascent carbon forestry sector. In particular, a number of amendments were made to the Climate Change Response Act (CCRA) in June 2020 through an Amendment Act. The aim of these amendments is to simplify New Zealand’s Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) and encourage the planting of new forests. In addition, the Climate Change (Forestry Sector) Regulations 2022 (the Regulations) were recently passed into law and will apply from 1 January 2023. This paper looks at four of the key changes made as part of these legislative changes: averaging accounting; permanent forestry; the temporary adverse events pause option; and changes to the forest offsetting regime.

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