The Government will remove nine health and life insurers from New Zealand's mandatory climate-related disclosures regime, reducing the total number of required reporting entities to 67.
Announcement Details
Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Cameron Brewer announced the exemption on 18 June 2026. The move targets health and life insurers that lack direct exposure to physical climate risks such as extreme weather events.
General insurers remain subject to the rules because they underwrite property damage and catastrophe risks tied to climate patterns. Health and life insurers face mainly indirect channels through investments or longer-term health trends.
“Unlike general insurers, health and life insurers aren’t directly exposed to climate risks like extreme weather events, so there’s little value in making them report on it. They’ve told us they don’t belong in the climate reporting regime, as ultimately it adds cost to their clients.” — Cameron Brewer, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister
Scope Reduction
The changes follow earlier adjustments in October 2025. Those steps raised the listed issuer threshold to $1 billion market capitalisation and removed managed investment schemes.
Originally the regime captured around 164 entities. Previous decisions removed 88. The latest exemption brings the total to approximately 67.
The Financial Markets Authority has already granted ‘no action’ relief to affected entities during the transition.
Legislative Process
The Financial Markets Conduct Amendment Bill is at second reading stage. An amendment paper will incorporate the insurer carve-out.
The regime began under the previous Labour Government through the Financial Sector (Climate-related Disclosures and Other Matters) Amendment Act 2021. It required reporting under External Reporting Board standards from financial years starting 2023.
Cost and Compliance Impact
Industry feedback highlighted that the requirements added costs ultimately passed to policyholders without meaningful benefit for health and life segments. The Government stated the changes support business growth by cutting red tape where obligations do not match risk exposure.
Remaining entities include listed issuers above the $1 billion threshold and general insurers meeting asset or premium tests. These firms possess the scale and resources to comply effectively.
The narrower pool focuses scrutiny on entities with the greatest impact while freeing others from unnecessary administrative burdens.
Opposing View
Not everyone welcomes the direction of travel. Labour’s spokeswoman for Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Arena Williams, has argued that successive rollbacks of the regime leave investors worse off: “Investors deserve to know how climate change affects the companies they back, and winding back these disclosures leaves them in the dark.” Labour and climate advocates contend that broader disclosure requirements improve systemic risk transparency, and that the Government was not contacted for comment on whether it sought their views before proceeding with the latest exemption.
What Comes Next
The amendment paper incorporating the health and life insurer carve-out is expected to be debated alongside the Financial Markets Conduct Amendment Bill as it progresses through its remaining parliamentary stages. The FMA’s 2026 Climate-related Disclosures Insights Report, covering the second year of mandatory filings, will provide a baseline measure of disclosure quality before the narrowed scope takes full effect — a key test of whether concentrating obligations on fewer, larger entities improves the overall standard of reporting.
