The New Zealand Taxonomy project has received international recognition after being awarded the 2026 Climate Bonds Award for Most Innovative Taxonomy at the Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI) Annual Conference in London on 23 June.
The award recognises the New Zealand Taxonomy project’s leadership in developing internationally credible, evidence-based taxonomy criteria for the agriculture and forestry sectors. It acknowledges the project’s inclusion of transition activities, aligned with approaches emerging in Australia and Singapore, reflecting the need for sectors such as agriculture to have credible pathways to lower emissions rather than a binary “green” classification.
It also highlights New Zealand’s leadership as one of the first jurisdictions globally to develop adaptation and resilience criteria within a taxonomy framework, underscoring the importance of climate resilience activities.
The New Zealand Taxonomy is a voluntary tool designed to help businesses, lenders and investors identify sustainable economic activities in New Zealand. It aims to support New Zealand businesses’ access to global capital and markets and enable capital to more easily find sustainable activities in New Zealand.
Jessica Desmond, who leads the New Zealand Taxonomy project secretariat at the Centre for Sustainable Finance, said New Zealand’s expertise in agriculture and forestry make it well placed to contribute to global taxonomy developments in this area.
“New Zealand producers are among the best in the world, so it makes sense for New Zealand to help lead taxonomy development for these sectors. Industry experts, scientists, Māori and financial sector representatives developed the criteria, in partnership with the New Zealand Government, to ensure the NZ Taxonomy works for our primary producers while meeting international market expectations.”
She said the award sends a strong signal to international investors about the integrity of the framework underpinning the taxonomy and demonstrates New Zealand’s ability to contribute to the evolution of global sustainable finance standards.
Jessica Desmond accepts the award on behalf of the NZ Taxonomy Project. Pictured with Jessica are David Woods, CSF Board member (left) and Sean Kidney, CEO of the Climate Bonds Initiative (centre).
Sharing New Zealand’s Experience on the Global Stage
The Centre for Sustainable Finance contributed to international discussions on taxonomy implementation at the UNEP FI, Standard Chartered and Climate Bonds co-hosted event, Adaptation & Resilience Finance Taxonomies: From Frameworks to Implementation, on 24 June.
Jessica Desmond joined the panel discussion, Taxonomy in Practice: User Perspectives, where she shared lessons from New Zealand’s taxonomy development and the importance of practical implementation, interoperability and collaboration in scaling adaptation and resilience finance.
The discussion highlighted growing international interest in adaptation and resilience frameworks and reinforced New Zealand’s position as a leading contributor to this emerging area of sustainable finance.
Jessica’s key message was that the focus is now on implementation. While adaptation taxonomies are becoming increasingly robust from a technical perspective, greater adoption will depend on providing financial institutions and businesses with practical examples, pilots, case studies and guidance that demonstrate how the frameworks can be applied in lending, investment and product development.
New Zealand’s experience has shown that close collaboration between taxonomy developers, financial institutions, businesses, Māori and policymakers is critical to testing frameworks in practice, building confidence and consistency, and ultimately directing more capital towards adaptation and resilience activities.
Getting Under the Hood of the NZ Taxonomy
Following the conference, the Centre for Sustainable Finance hosted a dedicated NZ Taxonomy showcase event on 25 June for taxonomy users and developers from various jurisdictions.
Participants gathered to hear directly from those involved in developing the award-winning taxonomy. The programme explored the NZ Taxonomy’s development approach and guiding principles, including the importance of ongoing engagement with market participants throughout the process. Speakers shared insights into the development of the agricultural mitigation criteria and the adaptation and resilience criteria, highlighting key features, challenges and lessons learned. Attendees also heard about market feedback received to date and the next steps for the project, which will include implementation guidance for businesses and local government.
The showcase provided an opportunity for international and domestic stakeholders to gain a deeper understanding of the practical development of the taxonomy and the collaborative process that has underpinned its success.
