New Zealand: Forestry
‘Forest restoration’ puts climate targets at risk
11 Apr 2019
Implementing current pledges of forest restoration under the Bonn Challenge will mean the 1.5deg climate goal is still missed, a new analysis says.
New forestry rules will adopt 'averaging' system
28 Mar 2019
New Zealand will adopt an “averaging” system of carbon accounting for forests, meaning owners will no longer have to measure and report on the amount of carbon being stored or face a carbon liability when trees are harvested.
Second iwi wants inclusion of older forests
1 Feb 2019
Another major iwi is pushing for tradable carbon credits for a much wider range of forests – and says dairy farmers should be liable for emissions from their businesses.
Government releases new forestry rules
20 Dec 2018
The Government has released further details of changes to the Emissions Trading Scheme’s forestry rules.
Forestry boom turns Ireland into an ecological dead zone
12 Oct 2018
Sponsored conifer plantations now cover hundreds of hectares of what once was rich farmland in Ireland, smothering the landscape and driving out endangered wildlife.
New forestry rules will boost planting, says Govt
11 Sep 2018
Changing forrestry accounting rules under the Emissions Trading Scheme is expected to lead to the planting of 102 million trees in new forests by 2030.
Farmers want clear carbon price guides
15 Aug 2018
Farmers want to know what range carbon prices will be over five-year periods, the Farm Forestry Association says.
Bulk of PNG export timber illegally logged
31 Jul 2018
Millions of tonnes of illegally logged Papua New Guinea timber are being exported to China and from there to the world as finished wood products, a new report has revealed.
Taxpayers could be left holding carbon bill
26 Jul 2018
Owners of post-1989 forests due for harvest might be tempted to arbitrage carbon credits, leaving taxpayers with the bill and driving liquidity out of the carbon market.
At last, we get to see proposed ETS forestry rules
11 Jun 2018
The Government has finally released some of its proposed changes to the Emissions Trading Scheme’s forestry rules – but the sector won’t see the rest until the end of the year.
Northland iwi kicks off Billion Trees planting
31 May 2018
The first deal has been done under the Government’s Billion Trees programme.
Government pumps $15m into new forest service
11 May 2018
The Government will set aside an extra $15 million in next week’s Budget to boost the capacity of the new forestry fervice.
The wood world's talking about the Jones boy
22 Mar 2018
The wood industry is in love with its new forestry minister.
Foresters like the look of Billion Trees scheme
26 Feb 2018
Forest owners say they are starting to think the Government is serious about forestry.
OIO cutting rights role wrong move, say foresters
23 Jan 2018
Giving the Overseas Investment Office approval of the sale of forestry cutting rights will jeopardise the Government’s billion trees plan, forest owners say.
Mixed forests may not resist climate change
5 Dec 2017
Researchers have confirmed once again that a good forest is a mixed forest, a natural one, with a diversity of species.
AirNZ eyes paying landowners to plant trees
22 Nov 2017
Air New Zealand wants to set up a private afforestation scheme under the Emissions Trading Scheme to offset some of its greenhouse gas emissions.
TREE TALK: Why we need a better forest philosophy
9 Nov 2017
On November 6, 1217, Henry III’s Charter of the Forest gave ordinary English people back their traditional rights to use royal hunting grounds for livestock grazing and collecting firewood.
Forests can bring 1.5deg Paris target closer
3 Nov 2017
Protecting the world’s forests could achieve a quarter of the greenhouse gas emissions cuts needed to meet the 1.5°C Paris target, scientists say.
Government planting target OK, say forest owners
27 Oct 2017
The Government’s plan to plant an extra 50,000 hectares of new forest a year is “optimistic but achievable”, say forest owners.
High land prices key blocker to forest planting
7 Sep 2017
New Zealand won’t get more carbon-sequestering forests until land prices fall.
Greens want high-end wood products industry
5 Sep 2017
The Green Party wants a regional research institute to develop high-value wood products as part of a strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Foresters hope next government will vote for trees
31 Aug 2017
Forest owners are hoping next month’s general election will lead to more forestry-friendly government policies – especially if New Zealand First is in the driving seat.
Fund wants to see 5283ha of new forest
10 Aug 2017
The Government’s reinstated Afforestation Grants Scheme will fund 5283 hectares of new forest this year.
Foresters greet environmental standards move
8 Aug 2017
The introduction of a national environmental standard for plantation forestry is vitally needed, forest owners say.
Using forests to manage carbon still a heated debate
4 Aug 2017
The best way of managing trees and forests for climate change and accounting for contributions of forests and forestry activities in carbon budgets remains hotly contested.
PICKY PROBLEM: What makes a carbon forest?
3 Aug 2017
The regeneration of vast areas of carbon-storing native forests is being hampered by “pickiness” over the definition of carbon forests.
Foresters fine, but the ETS has some problems
2 Aug 2017
The forestry sector has behaved rationally in response to the Emissions Trading Scheme - but the scheme itself hasn’t always been rational, a new analysis shows.
ETS changes of little help, say foresters
1 Aug 2017
The Government’s latest changes to the Emissions Trading Scheme will do nothing to get more trees in the ground, the forestry sector says.
It pays off to pay landowners to keep trees
25 Jul 2017
Paying landowners not to cut down trees is cheaper than the carbon-related costs the destruction of the forests would cause, new research shows.
Scientists fear EU rules will hide forest carbon loss
20 Jun 2017
Leading researchers have condemned attempts to change the way carbon from trees will be counted in Europe.
BUDGET: No boost for tree-planting
26 May 2017
The Government’s Budget will not get landowners planting trees on the scale needed to meet New Zealand’s Paris Agreement commitments, forest owners say.
Foresters want carbon price range and ETS promise
11 May 2017
A price range for carbon and a promise that changes to the Emissions Trading Scheme will be backdated would get landowners planting carbon-sequestering trees now, says the Forest Owners’ Association.
One power station deal eats up Govt forest fund
5 May 2017
New Zealand will need an extra 17,000ha of new forest to offset emissions from a new gas-fired power station at Otorohanga, the Green Party says.
Deadline looms for forest planting grants
27 Apr 2017
Applications for the latest round of the Government’s Afforestation Grants Scheme close tomorrow.
Native forests have potential to earn millions
26 Apr 2017
Landowners with 10,000 hectares of native forest could earn $1.5 million a year in carbon credits, a new report says.
Farmers join in as landowners return to planting
29 Mar 2017
Landowners are planting forests again – and farmers looking to offset emissions appear to be among them.
Smaller forests get financial helping hand
15 Mar 2017
Landowners wanting to plant small-to-medium-sized new forests might be able to get some government funding to help them.
Magic tricks in the forest can make carbon emissions vanish
9 Mar 2017
Countries are free to manage their forests as they choose, but reducing them to a tool of light-fingered carbon accounting can leave world deprived of vital carbon sinks.
Forest bonds seen as way for long-term green investment
10 Feb 2017
A world-leading environmental impact bond scheme could channel substantial private investment into planting vast areas of native and exotic forests in New Zealand.
Can we learn to leave our wild forests alone?
27 Jan 2017
Here is how to turn a forest into a carbon-consuming machine that will help to contain global warming. Leave it alone. Let it grow. Do not log it.
Sort out bioenergy, industry tells Government
8 Dec 2016
The ditching of plans for a large geothermally driven wood-processing plant in Northland shows why the Government must sort out New Zealand’s bioenergy plan, the industry says.
California counts 102 million trees dead from drought
24 Nov 2016
An astonishing 102 million trees have died across California over the past six years from drought and disease — including 62 million trees in 2016 alone.
New funding round will see 5.5m trees planted
11 Nov 2016
The latest round of funding from the Government’s Afforestation Grants Scheme will see 5.5 million trees planted next winter.
Hopes rise for solution to forest-split problem
7 Nov 2016
The door is slightly open for the Government to reconsider the contentious pre-1990/post-1989 forestry split under the Emissions Trading Scheme.
Government getting serious about forestry
3 Nov 2016
The climate ministers are seriously considering the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment’s afforestation proposals, it was revealed yesterday.
Is the Government cooking the forestry books?
2 Nov 2016
The Government is being accused of attempting to cook the books by changing the way in which carbon stored in trees is accounted for.
Govt wants to break new ground for tree planting
1 Nov 2016
The Government says it’s working on new ways to get more native and exotic trees in the ground.
$2.5b carbon bill hanging over heads of Treelords iwi
27 Oct 2016
The Maori owners of land under the Southern Hemisphere’s largest plantation forest face a potential carbon liability of nearly $2.5 billion – yet have received credits for just a fraction of the carbon stored in the trees.
Netherlands to increase forests by a quarter
27 Oct 2016
To slash the Netherlands' carbon footprint, the Dutch are going on a tree-planting binge.
Green building council calls for clean energy policies
18 May 2026
The New Zealand Green Building Council has released its 2026 election manifesto calling for policies to reduce energy waste in buildings, lower household and business energy costs, and improve New Zealand’s energy security.
Hipkins pans LNG plan as ‘massive step backwards’
Tue 19 May 2026
By Liz Kivi | Labour leader Chris Hipkins has told a Queenstown audience that a Government he leads would not proceed with a planned LNG import terminal, if elected at November’s election.
Greens condemn planned coal mine next to protected wetland
4 May 2026
By Liz Kivi | The Green Party says a new plan for a coal mine and fertiliser plant next to an internationally significant wetland is “ecological vandalism and climate denial.”
Climate pollution static but NZ still on track for first emissions budget, says MfE
17 Apr 2026
By Liz Kivi | New Zealand is still on track to meet its first emissions budget, according to the Ministry for the Environment, despite the pace of emissions reductions slowing to a standstill.
NZ at risk of falling behind on EV transition
Fri 22 May 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | An EV lobby group is warning that New Zealand is at a crossroads on transport electrification, with inconsistent policy settings and lagging charging infrastructure slowing uptake, while global adoption accelerates and fuel price shocks renew interest in electric vehicles.
Victorian Hydrogen announces Southland urea fertiliser project using coal
22 Apr 2026
By Liz Kivi | Australian-based Victorian Hydrogen has announced it is developing a new 1.5 million-tonne-a-year urea fertiliser operation in Southland, which it will apply for under fast-track legislation.
