New Zealand: Forestry
Forest owners urge NZ to follow Garnaut carbon storage action
8 Jul 2008
Australia’s emissions trading scheme is likely to recognise carbon stored in wood products – something New Zealand’s own forest industry would like to see on the table for the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol.
New report: more carbon credits needed to protect native forests
1 Jul 2008
Landowners will clear regenerating forests for exotic forests or farming if the carbon-storage capacity of indigenous trees is not fairly recognised under the emissions trading scheme.
Report underestimates benefits of increased forestry planting, say forest owners
27 Jun 2008
A recent report from the NZ Business Council for Sustainable Development grossly underestimates the potential benefits generated by the forestry sector under the proposed emissions trading scheme, says the forest owners’ association (NZFOA), because the report does not factor in the ongoing and increasing ability of newly-planted forests to sequester carbon.
Tree planting will have little effect on carbon - report
20 Jun 2008
A Ministry for the Environment report predicts forestry’s new planting levels will have a minimal impact on New Zealand’s overall carbon account situation for the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol - regardless of whether afforestation occurs at a rate of zero, 5000 or 20,000ha per annum.
Government forestry policies costly mistake, say owners
17 Jun 2008
New Zealand’s national carbon accounts could be up to $1.5 billion worse off in the second commitment period of the Kyoto protocol than if the Government’s policies had encouraged levels of new plantings consistent with those of the 1990s, according to financial modelling by Peter Clark, climate change spokesman for the New Zealand Forest Owners’ Association and chief executive of PF Olsen Ltd.
Forestry owners: Ministers claim of liabilities warning not true
13 Jun 2008
Claims by forestry minister Jim Anderton on Radio New Zealand’s Morning Report yesterday that land owners were warned five years ago of potential deforestation liabilities are not correct, the New Zealand Forest Owners Association said yesterday.
Major deforestation reported, but MAF survey shows ETS will lift replanting rates
11 Jun 2008
National yesterday decried the worst ever loss of 13,600 hectares of forest last year as a disaster for the environment. However it will vote against the ETS, which a MAF study reveals will boost replating rates by 5 to 15%.
Major policy clamp down on climate-warming illegal wood imports?
28 May 2008
The Cabinet has agreed in principle to mandatory labelling of all kwila products sold in New Zealand.
Kiwis embrace the chop-down-trees environmental message
27 May 2008
New Zealanders think using more wood is good for the environment.
MAF: wood supply to jump about 3 million cu m a year
27 May 2008
The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) has released new wood availability forecasts for the Central North Island that indicate a steady increase in supply for the region over the next 12 years.
Aggressive EU move to use Fiji as carbon sink, vital for NZ forest interests
22 May 2008
Fiji is facing a new future as a repository of carbon credits.
Deforestation Risk Overstated
21 May 2008
Fears that a temporary delay in the passage of the Climate Change (Emissions Trading and Renewable Preference) Bill could lead to significant deforestation are unfounded, according to the Flexible Land Use Alliance.
Forest owners tell ETS body: Our burden is unfair
13 May 2008
The forestry industry’s displeasure at being the only sector left in the early stages of the emissions trading scheme reached Parliament yesterday.
Forest giant could be carbon-saving crop of the future
5 May 2008
Foresters wanting to cash in on the carbon trading regime are being told to think Californian coastal redwoods.
Tree-mendous ... Charles to check on our forests
2 May 2008
Internal Affairs officials are in the early planning stages for a visit by the Prince of Wales and they have been advised by their UK counterparts it will be all business, rainforest business.
Deer hunters stalk carbon sink scheme
24 Apr 2008
The Deerstalkers' Association wants to sink a government proposal to wipe out deer from blocks of the Aorangi Forest on the Wairarapa coast.
Small-forest scheme open for business
23 Apr 2008
Applications are now open for the Government's new Afforestation Grant Scheme aimed at getting more trees planted on farms as part of New Zealand's effort to reduce greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
Wellington City decides on carbon credit revenue plan from town belts, forests
21 Apr 2008
Wellington City is looking to earn large annual revenues from emission credits by turning its town belts and forests into carbon sinks.
New indicators predict productivity of forestry sites
9 Apr 2008
Forestry scientists at Scion have for the first time developed the key soil and environmental indicators that show the productive capacity of sites in every part of New Zealand where someone may want to plant a forest.
GreenAir Fund pitches for major new forestry emision unit business
8 Apr 2008
With new forestry in New Zealand eligible for NZUs (New Zealand carbon offset units) from January 1 this year, the Sydney-based GreenAir Fund is bidding for new business here by offering up-front funding to complete the qualification design and certification of a potential carbon credit project.
Professor reviewing forestry offset scheme proposal
3 Apr 2008
The Flexible Land Use Alliance has appointed Professor Lewis Evans to review a draft report by the University of Waikato and Covec on proposed changes to the forestry components of the Climate Change (Emissions Trading and Renewable Preference) Bill, including the introduction of a Forestry Offset Scheme.
Insolvency threatens Maori forest owners
1 Apr 2008
Some Maori owners of pre-1990 forest land are going to become technically insolvent the day the Government’s emissions trading scheme (ETS) comes into effect, according to the secretary of a Maori incorporation.
"Energy Forests" could meet all future NZ transport and heat needs
20 Mar 2008
Purpose-grown energy forests if planted today could meet all of New Zealand's future transport fuel and heat energy needs, without threatening the country's important agricultural industry, according to a study completed by Crown Research Institute, Scion.
Greens support for forestry offset conditional
20 Mar 2008
The Green Party is warning the Flexible Land Use Alliance, which has announced it has a parliamentary majority for its forestry offset scheme, that it needs to realise that the Green Party's support is conditional.
Deforestation in 2007 exceeds Anderton’s expectations
19 Mar 2008
The rush to change land use before the forestry industry came under the emissions trading scheme (ETS) resulted in far more trees being cut down and not replaced than the Government expected.
Calculate your deforestation liability
17 Mar 2008
The ValueADD Company has launched an online interactive calculator to determine carbon liabilities for de-foresting pre-1990 land. Some of the liabilities are significant.
Climate Commission called to Waitangi inquiry over alleged breaches
Tue 10 Mar 2026
By Liz Kivi | The Climate Change Commission is being called to front up to the Waitangi Tribunal and give evidence over alleged legal breaches of its obligations to Māori.
Todd gets nod to drill first super-critical geothermal well
Thu 12 Mar 2026
By Pattrick Smellie | Todd Energy is to make its sole oil drilling rig available to drill the first exploration well under the government’s $60 million super-critical geothermal resource exploration programme under a ‘preferred supplier’ agreement announced yesterday.
Govt's solar on farms initiative to cut costs, boost resilience
17 Feb 2026
Farms across Aotearoa will begin installing solar panels and battery systems as part of a government-backed demonstration programme designed to test whether on-farm renewable energy can reduce electricity costs and improve energy security for the food and fibre sector.
Annual emissions fell to lowest in 15 years in Sept 2025
5 Feb 2026
By Pattrick Smellie | New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions fell to their lowest annual total in the year to September 2025 since records began 2010, according to Statistics New Zealand data published this morning.
Greenpeace slams Govt climate policies amid rising petrol prices
Thu 12 Mar 2026
As petrol prices climb to $3 a litre, Greenpeace is blaming Government decisions for leaving Kiwis harder hit by the oil price spike.
Rule changes could reshape corporate emissions strategies
6 Mar 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | New Zealand organisations may need to rethink how they manage and report electricity-related emissions as proposed global accounting changes take shape, according to a new report.
