Environmental Reporting Act 2015

1: Title
This Act is the Environmental Reporting Act 2015.
2: Commencement
1: This Act comes into force on the earlier of the following:
a: a date appointed by the Governor-General by Order in Council (and 1 or more orders may be made bringing different provisions into force on different dates):
b: the day that is 9 months after the date on which this Act receives the Royal assent.
2: An order under this section is secondary legislation ( see Part 3 The following table is small in size and has 3 columns that are grouped under the heading Legislation Act 2019 requirements for secondary legislation made under this section. Legislation Act 2019 requirements for secondary legislation made under this section Publication PCO must publish it on the legislation website and notify it in the Gazette LA19 s 69(1)﻿(c) Presentation The Minister must present it to the House of Representatives LA19 s 114 cl 32(1)﻿(a) Disallowance It may be disallowed by the House of Representatives LA19 ss 115 116 This note is not part of the Act. Section 2(1)﻿(a) brought into force 27 June 2016 clause 2 Environmental Reporting Act Commencement Order 2016 Section 2(2) inserted 28 October 2021 section 3 Secondary Legislation Act 2021
1: Preliminary provisions
3: Purpose
The purpose of this Act is to require regular reports on New Zealand's environment.
4: Interpretation
In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,— air domain atmosphere and climate domain
a: means the domain that—
i: extends from the surface of the earth to the outer layer of the stratosphere; and
ii: is composed of gases, particulates, and meteorological conditions; and
b: includes climate biodiversity climate Commissioner Environment Act 1986 domain report section 10 ecological integrity ecosystem environmental report freshwater domain
a: means the domain composed of water in all its physical forms; and
b: includes the animals, vegetation, and structures associated with the freshwater domain; and
c: does not include atmospheric water or water that forms part of the marine domain Government Statistician Public Service Act 2020 impact category sections 8(1)﻿(c) 11(1)﻿(c) land domain
a: means the domain composed of soil and underlying rock; and
b: includes the animals, vegetation, and structures associated with the land domain marine domain
a: means the domain bounded on the landward side by the mean high-water mark, and on the seaward side by the outer limits of New Zealand's exclusive economic zone and continental shelf; and
b: includes estuaries, the sea, the seabed, and the soil of the area described in paragraph (a); and
c: includes the animals, vegetation, and structures associated with the marine domain Minister for the Environment Environment Act 1986 Minister of Statistics Statistics Act 1975 Ministers Ministry Environment Act 1986 pressure public health section 6(1) Secretary Statistics New Zealand Statistics Act 1975 structure section 2(1) synthesis report section 7 te ao Māori topic section 19 Section 4 Government Statistician amended 7 August 2020 section 135 Public Service Act 2020
5: Treaty of Waitangi/Te Tiriti o Waitangi
In order to recognise and respect the Crown’s responsibility to take appropriate account of the Treaty of Waitangi/Te Tiriti o Waitangi
a: sections 8(1)﻿(c) 11(1)﻿(c)
b: section 19(3)
6: Act binds the Crown
This Act binds the Crown.
2: Environmental reporting
Synthesis reports
7: Synthesis reports
1: The Secretary and the Government Statistician must jointly produce and publish reports on New Zealand's environment.
2: As soon as is reasonably practicable after the Secretary and the Government Statistician have published a synthesis report, the Ministers must jointly present the report to the House of Representatives.
3: In subsection (1), New Zealand's environment section 10
8: Content of synthesis reports
1: Each synthesis report must describe, in relation to the topics prescribed in regulations made under section 19
a: the state of New Zealand's environment including biodiversity and ecosystems; and
b: the pressures that may be causing, or have the potential to cause, changes to the state of New Zealand's environment; and
c: the impacts that the state of the environment and changes to the state of the environment may be having on each of the following impact categories:
i: ecological integrity; and
ii: public health; and
iii: the economy; and
iv: te ao Māori; and
v: culture and recreation.
2: In addition to the matters set out in subsection (1), each synthesis report must describe—
a: changes to the state of New Zealand's environment over time, including, if information in the report is able to be compared with that in a previous synthesis report, changes to the state of the environment since that previous report was published:
b: how the state of New Zealand's environment measures against national or international standards.
3: The Secretary and the Government Statistician are not required to include in synthesis reports information that cannot be obtained by using reasonable efforts.
9: Frequency of synthesis reports
1: A synthesis report must be published once every 3 years.
2: The first synthesis report must be published not later than 3 years after the date on which the first domain report is published under this Act. Domain reports
10: Domain reports
1: The Secretary and the Government Statistician must jointly produce and publish reports on the following:
a: the air domain:
b: the atmosphere and climate domain:
c: the freshwater domain:
d: the land domain:
e: the marine domain.
2: As soon as is reasonably practicable after the Secretary and the Government Statistician have published a domain report, the Ministers must jointly present the report to the House of Representatives.
11: Content of domain reports
1: Each domain report must describe, in relation to the topics prescribed in regulations made under section 19
a: the state of the domain the report relates to, including biodiversity and ecosystems dependent on that domain; and
b: the pressures that may be causing, or have the potential to cause, changes to the state of the domain; and
c: the impacts that the state of the environment and changes to the state of the environment may be having on each of the following impact categories:
i: ecological integrity; and
ii: public health; and
iii: the economy; and
iv: te ao Māori; and
v: culture and recreation.
2: In addition to the matters set out in subsection (1), each domain report must describe—
a: changes to the state of the domain over time, including, if information in the report is able to be compared with that in a previous domain report, changes to the state of the domain since that previous report was published:
b: how the state of the domain measures against national or international standards.
3: The Secretary and the Government Statistician are not required to include in domain reports information that cannot be obtained by using reasonable efforts.
12: Frequency of domain reports
1: The first domain report for one of the domains listed in section 10
2: A domain report for one of the domains listed in section 10
3: If, by virtue of subsection (2), a domain report is not published because of the publication of a synthesis report, the domain report must be published within the next 6 months after the synthesis report is published.
4: Each of the domains listed in section 10 Production of environmental reports
13: Overview of process for producing environmental reports
The process for producing an environmental report involves the following steps:
a: the topics to be reported on are prescribed by regulations made under section 19
b: the statistics to measure those topics are selected in accordance with section 14(2)
c: the procedures and methods to be used in providing those statistics in an environmental report are decided in accordance with section 14(4)
14: Roles of Secretary and Government Statistician
1: In producing and publishing an environmental report, the Secretary and the Government Statistician must utilise the expertise of the Ministry and Statistics New Zealand.
2: Before producing an environmental report, the Government Statistician must, after consulting the Secretary, decide what statistics will be used to measure topics prescribed by regulations made under section 19
3: In deciding under subsection (2) what statistics will be used to measure topics, the Government Statistician must—
a: follow what he or she believes to be best practice principles and protocols; and
b: be satisfied that the statistics accurately represent the topic they purport to measure.
4: The Government Statistician has the sole responsibility for deciding the procedures and methods to be used in providing statistics that will be included in an environmental report.
15: Duty to act independently
In producing and publishing an environmental report, the Secretary and the Government Statistician must act independently of any Minister of the Crown.
16: Reports to be fair and accurate
The Secretary and the Government Statistician must, in so far as it is reasonably practicable, ensure that all environmental reports published give a fair and accurate representation of the state of New Zealand's environment, or the state of the domain being reported on.
17: Protecting integrity of untested information
1: This section applies only to untested information.
2: All requests for untested information must be transferred to the Government Statistician.
3: The Government Statistician may, in response to a request for untested information, at his or her sole discretion withhold any untested information.
4: In this section,— request for untested information Ombudsmen Act 1975 Public Audit Act 2001 untested information
a: means data, statistics, or findings prepared for reporting under this Act and not already in the public domain; but
b: does not include those data, statistics, or findings once the report for which they were prepared is published. Role of Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment
18: Role of Commissioner
1: In accordance with his or her functions and powers under the Environment Act 1986
2: The matters that the Commissioner may report on under subsection (1) include, but are not limited to,—
a: analysing environmental reports:
b: identifying trends:
c: discussing the implications of environmental report findings:
d: recommending responses to environmental report findings. Regulations
19: Regulations
1: The Governor-General may, on the joint recommendation of the Ministers, by Order in Council, make regulations prescribing—
a: topics to be covered in synthesis reports relating to—
i: the state of New Zealand's environment:
ii: the pressures that may be causing, or have the potential to cause, changes to the state of New Zealand's environment:
iii: the impacts that the state of the environment and changes to the state of the environment may be having on the matters set out in section 8(1)﻿(c)
b: topics to be covered in domain reports relating to—
i: the state of a domain:
ii: the pressures that may be causing, or have the potential to cause, changes to the state of a domain:
iii: the impacts that the state of a domain and changes to the state of the domain may be having on the matters set out in section 11(1)﻿(c)
2: Before recommending the making of regulations under subsection (1), the Ministers must be satisfied that any—
a: pressure topic or impact topic affects significant areas, resources, or numbers of people:
b: topic can be measured with robust statistical methods:
c: pressure topic is closely related to any state topic that it is asserted to affect:
d: impact topic is closely related to any state topic that is asserted to give rise to that impact.
3: Before recommending the making of regulations under subsection (1), the Ministers must consult—
a: the Government Statistician; and
b: the Commissioner; and
c: the public; and
d: iwi authorities; and
e: local authorities.
4: In this section,— impact topic pressure topic state topic
5: Regulations under this section are secondary legislation ( see Part 3 The following table is small in size and has 3 columns that are grouped under the heading Legislation Act 2019 requirements for secondary legislation made under this section. Legislation Act 2019 requirements for secondary legislation made under this section Publication PCO must publish it on the legislation website and notify it in the Gazette LA19 s 69(1)﻿(c) Presentation The Minister must present it to the House of Representatives LA19 s 114 cl 32(1)﻿(a) Disallowance It may be disallowed by the House of Representatives LA19 ss 115 116 This note is not part of the Act. Section 19(5) inserted 28 October 2021 section 3 Secondary Legislation Act 2021