The Government has agreed to a staged approach to the development of a market governance framework for the NZ Emission Trading Scheme (NZ ETS), following consultation in late 2022.
The Government has agreed to two proposals:
1. Enabling the Financial Markets Authority, through ‘Fair Dealing’ provisions in the Financial Markets Conduct Act (2013), to respond to risks relating to advice, trading and misconduct in the marketplace for NZUs.
2. Allowing the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to collect information about trades made by participants. This includes the price, the transactor’s primary reason for holding an account, and whether trades are happening between non-related accounts.
The above proposals will likely come into force in 2025.
Officials have also been directed to begin a Request for Proposal process to procure a clearing house and optional exchange, along with the associated infrastructure, for the secondary market. No decisions on whether to procure an exchange and/or clearing facility have been made. A report back on the RFP is expected in March 2024. A further report back on a comprehensive market governance package is expected in June 2024.
More information, including the cabinet paper outlining this decision, is available on the Ministry for the Environment’s website using the link below.
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