New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment raises climate-related disclosure threshold to $1 billion market cap and adds new private asset disclosure categories

The New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment outlined a package of capital markets reforms that narrows the scope of mandatory climate-related disclosures for listed issuers, introduces more granular disclosure of managed funds’ private assets, and reduces some initial public offering (IPO) compliance costs. Under the climate-related disclosures (CRD) regime, the mandatory reporting threshold for listed companies will rise from $60 million market capitalisation to $1 billion, with smaller listed businesses no longer required to report while the largest companies remain in scope. Managed investment scheme (MIS) managers will be removed from the CRD regime, reducing CRD reporting entities from around 164 to 76, with 66 listed companies and 22 MIS managers exiting. For private asset visibility, assets held by managed funds, including KiwiSaver, must be listed on the Companies Office’s Disclose Register and, from March 2027, fund managers will need to add new categorisations including whether an asset is in New Zealand or overseas and its asset class (for example, debt, infrastructure, unlisted equities). Separately, a change effective in June 2025 made it voluntary for IPO candidates to provide prospective financial information. Legislation to implement the CRD changes, including updated liability settings, is expected to be passed in 2026, and the new Disclose Register asset categories take effect from March 2027.