Clean Car Standard regulations and dates released

Waka Kotahi has released the regulations for the Clean Car Standard (CCS) ahead of the initiative coming into effect on 1 January, 2023.

The Clean Car Standard is a government initiative that aims to reduce CO2 emissions levels in New Zealand by encouraging the importation of low or no emissions vehicles.

High emitting vehicles will incur a charge with the fee increasing the higher to CO2 rating of a vehicle.

All vehicle importers need to register a CO2 account in order to comply with the Clean Car Standard.

A CO2 account allows importers to view and manage all imported vehicles with the option to have one new and one used account.

Clean Car Standard regulations and key dates are provided below.

What do vehicle importers need to do?

Importers of new and used vehicles are required to set up a CO2 account in the CCS system operated by Waka Kotahi before 1 December, 2022.

Users will be able to register for a CCS CO2 account from 7 November, 2022 when the CCS system is launched.

All imported vehicles must be assigned to the CO2 account when the system goes live on 1 December, 2022.

Payment schemes

Two types of payment schemes are available for any charges incurred on high emitting vehicles, Pay as you go and Fleet average.

Pay as you go means importers will comply with emissions targets on a per vehicle basis while Fleet average means they will comply on an annual basis.

Vehicle importers who have registered for a CO2 account will be automatically assigned to the Pay as you go scheme but can apply to pay a Fleet average.

Importers can also earn and spend CO2 credits which can be saved or transferred.

For Pay as you go, a CO2 credit is applied if the vehicle CO2 emissions are less than the individual vehicle target for that vehicle. 

With Fleet average, a CO2 credit is applied if the actual average vehicle CO2 emissions across the importer’s total fleet, during an obligation year, are less than the target for the year. 

Clean Car Standard charge rates

If using the Pay as you go scheme, importers of high emitting vehicles will have to pay a charge per vehicle based on the annual rate.

“If a vehicles’ CO2 emissions are greater than the target, a charge will be due at time of accepting each vehicle in the CCS System unless credits are used to offset,” states Waka Kotahi.

Pay as you go charges for 2023 are:

• New vehicles $36.00 per gram of CO2 in excess 
• Used vehicles $18.00 per gram of CO2 in excess 

If using the Fleet average scheme, importers of high emitting vehicles will have to pay a charge annually based on the annual rate.

“If the total vehicle CO2 emissions are greater than the total targets across the obligation year a charge will be due unless credits are used to offset,” states Waka Kotahi.

Fleet average charges for 2023 are:

• New vehicles $45.00 per gram of CO2 in excess 
• Used vehicles $22.50 per gram of CO2 in excess 

Clean Car Standard timeline

A full timeline of the Clean Car Standard can be found here.