New Zealand: Forestry
Wary forest investors watch climbing carbon price
6 May 2016
Gun-shy forest investors are watching with interest as carbon creeps up to the magic $15 mark, but they’ll need at least another $3 a tonne to make up for the political risk of investing in carbon forestry, the industry says.
Purse strings now open for forest planting
28 Apr 2016
Applications for the second round of the Government’s Afforestation Grants Scheme are open.
Foresters welcome call for more tree-planting
26 Apr 2016
Forest owners are welcoming a report recommending doubling the area of planted forest in New Zealand.
NZ court fines Australian carbon farmer
21 Apr 2016
An Australian carbon farming company that used a New Zealander to buy land has been fined $40,000.
Why carbon price is key to forestry worth billions
15 Apr 2016
Carbon prices will need to hit $35 a tonne by 2017 or forest owners will quit the Emissions Trading Scheme, leaving New Zealand unable to meet its emissions reductions targets, an expert is warning.
Norway fund drops deforestation firms
15 Apr 2016
Norway’s $700 billion sovereign wealth fund, the largest in the world, has dropped 11 companies for their connections to deforestation.
WHAT A WASTE! Native forests key to cutting carbon
1 Apr 2016
New Zealand is paying a high cost in carbon for neglecting its native forests, says a carbon sequestration expert.
Minister's reminder: Trees are really, really important
21 Mar 2016
Forests play a vital role in the economy and the environment, the Government is reminding New Zealanders.
Welcome aboard, iwi adviser tells Air New Zealand
18 Mar 2016
Air New Zealand should not be the only company looking to work with iwi to generate carbon offsets, a consultant says.
Processors in ETS could pose problem, says industry
14 Mar 2016
Bringing wood processors into the Emissions Trading Scheme could damage other carbon-reducing initiatives, such as biofuel development, the industry says.
Study to look at alternatives to radiata pine
14 Mar 2016
A new research programme will help to calculate the carbon-storing potential of alternative wood crops.
Foresters laud Landcorp's change of mind
8 Mar 2016
Landcorp’s decision to go forestry instead of dairy on land in the central North Island is a sign that some landowners are starting to question the viability of dairy conversions, the Forest Owners’ Association says.
Wood processors could get the nod with ETS changes
4 Mar 2016
Wood processors could come into the Emissions Trading Scheme under changes being suggested by the Government.
OIO-action company sells NZ carbon assets
3 Mar 2016
An Australian company being prosecuted by the Overseas Investment Office has sold its New Zealand carbon assets.
Angry foresters want end to 1:2 subsidy
23 Feb 2016
Forest owners want the one-for-two subsidy gone – and are angry that the Government is likely to give heavy emitters extra free credits to cushion the blow.
Planting rate drops by a million seedlings
15 Feb 2016
Latest Government figures show that planting rates of exotic forests last year were even lower than they were in 2014, when nurseries destroyed hundreds of thousands of seedlings because foresters weren’t planting.
Forest owners eye manuka as crop of future
15 Feb 2016
Forest owners battered by low carbon prices and volatile log prices are thinking manuka as a potentially lucrative environmental crop.
Foresters will do deal on carbon price cap
9 Feb 2016
Foresters want the $25 carbon-price cap gone – but they’d live with it if there were a price floor, says a Government-commissioned report.
Stand by ... it's another rough ride for forests
25 Jan 2016
The past year has been a momentous time for the world’s forests, with both good and bad news. Fasten your seat belts, because 2016 promises to be another roller-coaster ride.
We're beginning to see the wood despite the trees
15 Dec 2015
What’s in the Paris Agreement for forestry? Forest Owners’ Association chief executive DAVID RHODES reports from Paris.
Pacific forester grabs Paris incentive
15 Dec 2015
The Paris Agreement on climate change is an incentive for businesses to work with landowners across New Zealand and the Pacific to protect indigenous forests, says a social enterprise specialising in voluntary carbon credits.
Foresters likely have cover for fire losses
15 Dec 2015
Most of the forests involved in a fire burning in Marlborough are likely to have been insured against carbon loss.
Poor nation earns rich praise for emissions target
23 Nov 2015
Analysts say the Democratic Republic of Congo, one of the world’s poorest countries, has more credible plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions from forestry than several more developed states.
Facts show forestry and dairying can be equal earners
27 Oct 2015
Pricing environmental impacts into agriculture and forestry will not destroy the economy, figures show.
Foresters suggest harvesting bans as solution
14 Sep 2015
Bans on clear-felling highly erodible lands and on harvesting near waterways when native fish are spawning are among provisions in a new set of environmental rules being put forward by forest owners, environmental groups and some local councils.
Global tree census highlights need to restore forests
7 Sep 2015
Mapping the density of forests reveals that there are far more trees on the planet than previously thought – but humans are destroying 15 billion a year.
Emissions are putting species in lethal danger
31 Aug 2015
Scientists warn that lizards, coral reefs and forests are all seriously under threat unless agreement is reached to reduce drastically fossil fuel emissions.
New figures show foresters deserting tree-planting
24 Aug 2015
More of New Zealand’s post-1989 plantation forests are outside the Emissions Trading Scheme than are in it.
Foresters sidestep Government and go it alone
10 Aug 2015
Establishing a national forestry policy is top of the agenda at a sector meeting in Wellington today.
Wildfire threat spreads across warming world
3 Aug 2015
As climate change warms the world, vegetation dries, rainfall patterns waver and the threat of wildfire spreads.
Foresters see need for big ETS changes
13 Jul 2015
Major changes will need to be made to the Emissions Trading Scheme if New Zealand wants to meet its just-announced post-2020 emissions reduction target.
PFSI consultation meeting today
7 Jul 2015
Public meetings to discuss changes to the Permanent Forest Sink Initiative kick off in Northland today.
Bio-waste boon for natives on poor pine soils
8 Jun 2015
Bio-waste can be utilised on former pine plantations to generate big economic returns, new research shows.
Forest policy action pleases timber industry
18 May 2015
The Government appears to be putting in place the ingredients of a national forestry policy, an industry leader says.
Forest grants scheme gets $22m injection
11 May 2015
The Government will put $22.5 million into restarting the Afforestation Grant Scheme, it says.
Forest experts are wrong, say climate change ministers
30 Mar 2015
The Government is sticking to its guns – forest planting is down because of the cyclical nature of the industry, and not because carbon prices are too low to encourage planting.
Memo Jo: Foresters need a bit more than praise
23 Mar 2015
Forest owners want the Government to put its money where its mouth is on sustainable forestry – and are gathering the numbers to back their case.
Nine billion reasons to get rid of our forest pests
23 Mar 2015
The economic benefits of wiping out possums, rats, mice and mustelids in New Zealand would outweigh the costs, latest research shows.
Forest planting heads for even more pitiful levels
16 Mar 2015
Forest planting levels could be even lower than last year’s pitiful level, says leading forestry company PF Olsen.
Foresters draw up wishlist for ETS review
16 Mar 2015
The Emissions Trading Scheme review is likely to be pushed into next year, forest owners say.
Finland declares itself a bio-economy superpower
16 Mar 2015
Finland has launched a research centre for the refining of biomass into biochemicals as part of the country’s drive to double its bio-economy.
Beehive breaking our climate change pledge
9 Mar 2015
Latest figures show that New Zealand is not planting enough trees to meet its climate change pledges, and a carbon forestry expert says that the Government is to blame.
World wood production just grows and grows
22 Dec 2014
Global wood production has recovered from the economic downturn of 2008-2009 and is showing steady growth for the fourth consecutive year.
Launchpad jury likes wilding pines project
17 Nov 2014
Taking an environmental problem and turning it into a commercial success has seen a Queenstown social enterprise team taken under the wing of a business incubator.
Anxious foresters await review of foreign credits ban
13 Oct 2014
A controversial decision to make foresters the only emitters banned from using cheap foreign carbon credits to offset their greenhouse gas emissions is under review.
Controlling deforestation will take more than words
6 Oct 2014
There was little at the recent UN Climate Summit in New York in the way of new climate policy announcements, but 27 countries did sign a new forest agreement — the New York Declaration on Forests.
Forest owners welcome return of grant scheme
1 Sep 2014
Forest owners are welcoming the reinstatement of the Afforestation Grant Scheme – but say that lifting carbon prices would reverse deforestation overnight.
Foresters like look of climate commission
1 Sep 2014
Forest owners like the Labour Party's plan to set up an independent climate commission.
Sarawak’s logging roads would go round the Earth … twice
1 Sep 2014
Sarawak’s logging companies, known for their unsustainable practices, have created a road network 88,111 km long in the Malaysian state’s rainforest, says a protest group.
Frustrated forest owners quit trading scheme
4 Aug 2014
More than 750 owners of post-1989 forests left the Emissions Trading Scheme over the past year as New Zealand’s net forestation rate plummeted.
Govt promises ‘earlier action’ in response to Commission’s warning climate targets at risk
Fri 17 Oct 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | The Government says it will “explore opportunities for earlier action” ahead of the third Emissions Reduction Plan, and has committed to looking at ways to stop the system of free carbon credits for industrial polluters from disincentivising industrial decarbonisation.
Transpower tracks more than 100 new grid projects
Tue 14 Oct 2025
Transpower’s latest connection data show more than 100 generation, storage and load projects in its pipeline, reflecting the rapid pace of electrification across the country.
All carrot, no stick for farmers on methane
Fri 17 Oct 2025
By Pattrick Smellie | COMMENT: The abandonment of methane emissions pricing and the adoption of a weaker target is effectively the last nail in the coffin of the historic cross-parliamentary consensus embedded in the Zero Carbon Act 2019.
Govt releases updated emissions projections
Mon 13 Oct 2025
By Liz Kivi | The Ministry for the Environment has released updated emissions projections to 2050, which show significant differences to the Climate Change Commission's recent projections for the same period.
Air NZ inks deal for its first internationally verified carbon credits
9 Oct 2025
By Liz Kivi | Air New Zealand has committed to buying 8000 tonnes of carbon removals by 2030, in partnership with local native forest investment platform My Native Forest.
Climate credibility gap widening for Aussie firms
1 Oct 2025
By Pattrick Smellie | Australian public companies’ climate change commitments are in retreat, reflecting difficulty in achieving stated targets and increased fossil use, but not because of any pressure to make less effort, according to a study of major companies’ ESG reporting.
