Transport is New Zealand’s second-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for around 17-19% of gross emissions. Within the transport sector, freight (particular heavy vehicles) contributes to approximately one quarter of emissions. The Government, via the Emissions Reductions Plan (first released May 2022 and continued under ERP2), has a target to reduce emissions from freight transport by 35% by 2035.
Following the launch of the SBC Low Carbon Freight Pathway, which demonstrates a roadmap on how we can decarbonise the freight sector, SBC launched a collaboration to drive forward the design of a new national system to help reduce emissions from the heavy freight sector.
The Low Emissions Freight Certificate (LEFC) framework was launched at the 2025 Climate Change and Business Conference marking a major step in the project. In June 2026 123Carbon were appointed as a registry provider to support the LEFC through pilot and into implementation stages.
A pilot phase is set to run between Q3 2026 and Q1 2027, during which the LEFC methodology registry will be tested in a New Zealand context.
The LEFC system is designed to reward freight companies that invest in low-emission vehicles and to give businesses a clear and credible way to decarbonise their freight emissions. If implemented this would be a world-leading initiative, allowing New Zealand businesses to demonstrate their efforts to reduce emissions.
SBC collaborated with a number of its members, alongside the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Agency (EECA) and DETA, to design a market-based mechanism. Contributing member businesses include NZ Post, Lyttelton Port Company, Hiringa, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners and CHEP. Additional participating organisations and technical experts who have worked on developing the framework design and legal considerations include the Ministry of Transport (MoT), and Chapman Tripp, New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) and Retyna. The Smart Freight Centre (SFC) and Toitu Envirocare were engaged as part of the process, with DETA engaged as the lead technical delivery partner.
