Climate Change (Auctions, Limits, and Price Controls for Units) Amendment Regulations 2025
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2025/209
Climate Change (Auctions, Limits, and Price Controls for Units) Amendment Regulations 2025
Cindy Kiro, Governor-General
Order in Council
At Wellington this 22nd day of September 2025
Present:
Her Excellency the Governor-General in Council
These regulations are made under sections 30GA and 30GB of the Climate Change Response Act 2002—
(a)
on the advice and with the consent of the Executive Council; and
(b)
on the recommendation of the Minister of Climate Change made after complying with sections 3A, 3B, 30GB(4)(a), and 30GC of that Act.
Contents
Regulations
1 Title
These regulations are the Climate Change (Auctions, Limits, and Price Controls for Units) Amendment Regulations 2025.
2 Commencement
These regulations come into force on 1 January 2026.
3 Principal regulations
These regulations amend the Climate Change (Auctions, Limits, and Price Controls for Units) Regulations 2020.
4 Regulation 13 amended (Meanings of cumulative volume, distributed volume, and reserve volume)
(1)
In the heading to regulation 13, replace “and reserve volume”
with “reserve volume, and rollover volume”
.
(2)
In regulation 13(1), insert in its appropriate alphabetical order:
rollover volume, in relation to an auction, means the number of New Zealand units, other than those in the reserve volume, that were available for sale in any previous auction in the same calendar year and that remain unsold
(3)
In regulation 13(1), definition of cumulative volume, replace paragraph (b) with:
(b)
adding any rollover volume
5 Regulation 16 amended (Auction operator must make auction notices publicly available)
In regulation 16(2)(f), replace “5 working days”
with “3 working days”
.
6 Regulation 25 amended (Requirement to provide collateral for bids)
In regulation 25(1), replace “5 working days”
with “3 working days”
.
7 Regulation 27 amended (How bids are made)
In regulation 27(4)(c), replace “5 working days”
with “3 working days”
.
8 Regulation 30 replaced (Process for determining auction results)
Replace regulation 30 with:
30 Process for determining auction results
Step 1: allocate distributed volume and determine first interim clearing price
(1)
As soon as practicable after the end of an auction’s bidding window, the auction operator must—
(a)
rank the bids in order of bid price, so that—
(i)
the highest-ranked bid is the bid with the highest bid price; and
(ii)
the lowest-ranked bid is the bid with the lowest bid price; and
(iii)
tied bids have the same rank; and
(b)
allocate the distributed volume to bids in accordance with regulation 31, starting with the highest-ranked bid; and
(c)
determine an interim clearing price in accordance with regulation 32.
Step 2: allocate rollover volume and determine interim clearing price
(2)
Subclause (3) applies if—
(a)
the rollover volume is greater than zero; and
(b)
in a case in which there is a confidential reserve price, the interim clearing price determined under subclause (1)(c) is greater than or equal to the confidential reserve price.
(3)
The auction operator must,—
(a)
in accordance with regulation 31, and reassessing any bid that was allocated less than its bid volume at step 1, allocate the rollover volume to bids; and
(b)
redetermine an interim clearing price in accordance with regulation 32.
Step 3: evaluating inclusion of rollover volume
(4)
If the interim clearing price determined under subclause (3)(b) is less than the confidential reserve price (if any), the auction operator must—
(a)
reverse the allocation of the rollover volume under subclause (3)(a); and
(b)
proceed to step 4.
Step 4: allocate reserve volume and redetermine interim clearing price
(5)
If the interim clearing price determined or redetermined under the applicable provision is greater than or equal to the lowest trigger price, the auction operator must—
(a)
release for sale at the auction the reserve volume for that trigger price; and
(b)
in accordance with regulation 31, and reassessing any bid that was allocated less than its bid volume at step 1 or 2, allocate to bids the reserve volume released under paragraph (a); and
(c)
redetermine the interim clearing price in accordance with regulation 32.
(6)
The applicable provision is—
(a)
subclause (1)(c) if—
(i)
step 2 does not apply (see subclause (2)); or
(ii)
the allocation of the rollover volume is reversed at step 3 (see subclause (4)(a)); or
(b)
subclause (3)(b) in any other case.
(7)
If the interim clearing price determined under subclause (5)(c) is greater than or equal to the next lowest trigger price (if any), the auction operator must—
(a)
release for sale at the auction the reserve volume for that trigger price; and
(b)
in accordance with regulation 31, and reassessing any bid that was allocated less than its bid volume in an earlier round at step 4, allocate to bids the reserve volume released under paragraph (a); and
(c)
redetermine the interim clearing price in accordance with regulation 32.
(8)
The auction operator must reapply subclause (7) for each trigger price as necessary.
Step 5: determine final clearing price and sell units
(9)
As soon as practicable after completing step 4, the auction operator must—
(a)
determine the final clearing price in accordance with regulation 32; and
(b)
sell units at that price if required by regulation 33 (if there are successful bids under that regulation).
9 Regulation 31 amended (Allocating New Zealand units to bids)
(1)
In regulation 31(1), replace “cumulative volume”
with “distributed volume, any rollover volume,”
.
(2)
In regulation 31(8), replace the definition of remaining volume with:
remaining volume means the number of New Zealand units that is calculated by—
(a)
taking the distributed volume (see step 1 of regulation 30); and
(b)
adding any rollover volume (see steps 2 and 3 of regulation 30); and
(c)
adding any reserve volume released for sale (see step 4 of regulation 30); and
(d)
subtracting the total number of New Zealand units already allocated to bids
10 Regulation 32 amended (Determining clearing price)
(1)
In regulation 32(a), replace “step 1 or step 2”
with “step 1, 2, or 4”
.
(2)
In regulation 32(b), replace “step 3”
with “step 5”
.
11 Schedule 3 replaced
Replace Schedule 3 with the Schedule 3 set out in the Schedule of these regulations.
Schedule Schedule 3 replaced
Schedule 3 Limits and price control settings
rr 14, 15
Limits
| Column 1 | Column 2 | Column 3 | Column 4 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calendar year |
New Zealand units available by auction (millions) |
Approved overseas units used (millions) |
Overall limit on units (millions) |
|||
| 2026 | 11.7 | 0.0 | 16.3 | |||
| 2027 | 10.2 | 0.0 | 14.6 | |||
| 2028 | 8.6 | 0.0 | 12.7 | |||
| 2029 | 7.1 | 0.0 | 11.1 | |||
| 2030 | 5.6 | 0.0 | 9.6 |
Price control settings
| Column 1 | Column 2 | Column 3 | Column 4 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calendar year |
Minimum price below which units must not be sold by auction ($) |
Trigger price for sale of reserve amount of New Zealand units ($) |
Reserve amount of New Zealand units (millions) |
|||
| 2026 | 71 | 203 254 |
2.3 4.2 |
|||
| 2027 | 75 | 213 267 |
2.1 3.8 |
|||
| 2028 | 78 | 224 280 |
1.9 3.4 |
|||
| 2029 | 82 | 236 295 |
1.7 3.0 |
|||
| 2030 | 87 | 248 309 |
1.4 2.5 |
Rachel Hayward,
Clerk of the Executive Council.
Explanatory note
This note is not part of the regulations but is intended to indicate their general effect.
These regulations, which come into force on 1 January 2026, amend the Climate Change (Auctions, Limits, and Price Controls for Units) Regulations 2020 (the principal regulations).
The amendments—
allow New Zealand units that are unsold at auction to be made available, as a rollover volume, in a later auction in the same calendar year only if the distributed volume (as defined in the principal regulations) is cleared at the later auction; and
require a person proposing to submit a bid at an auction to provide collateral 3 working days, instead of 5 working days, before the auction in order to secure the bid at the auction; and
replace Schedule 3 of the principal regulations (which currently sets out the unit limits and price control settings for 2025 to 2029) to prescribe unit limits and price control settings for 2026 to 3030.
Regulatory impact statement
The Ministry for the Environment produced a regulatory impact statement on 5 August 2025 to help inform the decisions taken by the Government relating to the contents of this instrument.
A copy of this regulatory impact statement can be found at—
Date of notification in Gazette: 25 September 2025.
These regulations are administered by the Ministry for the Environment.
Versions
Climate Change (Auctions, Limits, and Price Controls for Units) Amendment Regulations 2025
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