12 October 2021

Average ages and basic rules for averaging accounting now available

The Climate Change (Emissions Trading Reform) Amendment Act 2020 introduced significant policy changes to forestry in the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) that will take effect on 1 January 2023. The Forestry Regulations are now being amended to provide the detailed rules for how these policies will work in practice.

In September, Cabinet agreed to several major proposed amendments to the Forestry Regulations, along with other supporting work, to implement the upcoming changes to forestry in the ETS. We will publish the decision documents and other supporting information on the MPI website.

The MPI website has now been updated with the basic rules for averaging accounting, including the average ages of different types of forest.

As well as the mechanics of averaging accounting, Cabinet also agreed to:

• the definition of temporary adverse events to implement the new exemption from paying carbon liabilities after events that damage and clear the forest (for example, fires or storms)
• how the penalty for clear-felling a permanent forest will be set
• policies for applying the field measurement approach (FMA).

The new regulations are now being drafted and will be finalised and published by 1 October 2022.

More information

Find out more about averaging accounting

Update – 8 October: Cabinet agrees to amend forestry regulations