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).
Read the media release here.
Learn more about the NZ Taxonomy project here.
