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Articles and Reports

  • The Emissions Trading Scheme - What it is, what it does and how to join it.
    September 2022 (Access: unrestricted)
    Landowners new to the ETS and wanting to know how to join it should find the following guides useful. Most of them are official papers from MPI but they are…
  • Video guidance
    Ministry for Primary Industries, June 2018 (Access: unrestricted)
    MPI has created a series of short videos (5 minutes each) to help participants with MER calculations. The 11 video series covers all aspects of emissions returns, from the basics…
  • Carbon forestry as a driver for land use change
    Steve J Wakelin, Les Dowling, Juan J Monge and Graham G West , October 2018 (Access: unrestricted)
    Abstract Land use change in New Zealand towards a mosaic of forested and pastoral landscapes may occur through regulatory and market drivers. The implications for natural resource research programmes and…
  • Climate change and agriculture: Understanding the biological greenhouse gases
    the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, October 2016 (Access: unrestricted)
    In this report the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment examines the issue of agricultural greenhouse gases – methane and nitrous oxide – which together form about half of New Zealand’s…
  • New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme review 2015/16 Consultation
    NZFFA, February 2016 (Access: unrestricted)
    Submission by NZ Farm Forestry Association (pdf) »
  • Do Carbon offsets work? The role of forest management in greenhouse gas mitigation
    United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service, August 2013 (Access: unrestricted)
    Report from the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service on the role of forest carbon in combatting climate change. Some excerpts: Ultimately carbon trades allow businesses to continue to…
  • Food, Fuel and Famine
    Mike Malloy, July 2011 (Access: unrestricted)
    For thousands of years, humans have dreamed of finding a way to escape the Rule of Famine. In the second half of the 20th century, they thought that they had…
  • Environmental Impacts of Multi-Storey Buildings using Different Construction Materials
    BRANZ, July 2009 (Access: unrestricted)
    Using a real six-story concrete building being erected at the University of Canterbury as the template, researchers "built" another three virtual buildings with the same characteristics as the template. One…
  • Comment on forestry and climate change
    E. G. Mason and David Evison, July 2009 (Access: unrestricted)
    The forestry sector makes large direct and indirect contributions to the mitigation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from New Zealand, and its contribution could be even larger if we set…

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Tree Grower articles

  • Sweeter than The Sound of Music He Waka Eke Noa (Access: NZFFA membership)
    Howard Moore, February 2022
    The Sound of Music was enormously popular. Many people watched it again and again and I can still remember at least seven words from the song Do-Re-Mi. The film seemed…
  • Greener than Shrek: He Waka Eke Noa (Access: NZFFA membership)
    Howard Moore, November 2021
    In the August Tree Grower I voiced my confusion about He Waka Eke Noa. This is the parallel Emissions Trading Scheme specific to agriculture which aims to equip farmers with…
  • The big change: What the new Emissions Trading Scheme means for land owners (Access: NZFFA membership)
    Mathilde Batelier-Belton and Ollie Batelier-Belton, November 2021
    You might have heard that the Emissions Trading Scheme is currently going through a big revamp. Officials and stakeholders have been working for years on how to reform it, mainly…
  • The Climate Change Commission’s forestry recommendations: Unlikely to be fully implemented (Access: NZFFA membership)
    Hamish Levack, August 2021
    The Climate Change Commission was formed in 2019 to help set the country’s climate targets as required by the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Act. From the outset it…
  • Bigger than Ben-Hur - He Waka Eke Noa (Access: NZFFA membership)
    Howard Moore, August 2021
    We are all in this together It is fun now-and-then to run the plot of a movie backwards in your mind. Ben-Hur is a bit complicated for that but Thelma…
  • What you always wanted to know about the Emissions Trading Scheme but were afraid to ask (Access: NZFFA membership)
    Ollie Batelier-Belton and Mathilde Batelier-Belton, August 2021
    This article is the first of a series about the Emissions Trading Scheme. Subsequent articles will look into specific themes related to the scheme such as harvesting obligations, averaging and…
  • Handling the heat of climate change (Access: unrestricted)
    Howard Moore, May 2021
    Recent submissions to the Climate Change Commission on its Draft Advice and to Te Uru Rakau on the Emissions Trading Scheme In March and April the NZFFA made two submissions,…
  • The Emissions Trading Scheme – Opportunities closing (Access: unrestricted)
    Forest 360, February 2021
    In the November issue of Tree Grower we outlined the opportunities being missed within the Emissions Trading Scheme. One of those was for forests planted after 1989 which are eligible…
  • The Emissions Trading Scheme Some common missed opportunities (Access: unrestricted)
    Forest 360, November 2020
    In the August issue of Tree Grower our article took us back to basics with the Emissions Trading Scheme. This article outlines some of the missed opportunities for land owners…
  • Carbon accounting for less commonly grown tree species (Access: unrestricted)
    Dean Meason, Yue Lin, Serajis Salekin, Barbara Höck and Leslie Dowling, November 2020
    Carbon units are allocated to eligible forests which have an area less than 100 hectares by using a look-up table. This is based on average carbon sequestration rates under the Emissions Trading Scheme.…
  • Emissions Trading Scheme back to basics (Access: unrestricted)
    Forest 360, August 2020
    This article is the first of two which aims to remind readers of some of the questions which will help you identify whether the Emissions Trading Scheme is right for…
  • Report of the climate change forestry reference group (Access: unrestricted)
    Howard Moore, February 2019
    If you are among those waiting for the Emissions Trading Scheme Review of 2015/16 to finally have an effect, I can confirm it is not dead. Officials plan to produce…
  • We are almost there for a truly functioning ETS (Access: unrestricted)
    Stuart Orme, November 2018
    Over the next three years the government has committed $118 million in direct grants for tree planting and a further $120 million for partnership projects. This is amazing given past…
  • Trees, sheep and beef make an interesting mix (Access: unrestricted)
    Victoria Lamb, May 2018
    New Zealand has an area of about 25.9 million hectares. Around 40 per cent or 10.6 million hectares of that is in sheep and beef farming. As many will know…
  • Emissions Trading Scheme now ten years old (Access: unrestricted)
    Stuart Orme, February 2018
    At the start of this year the Emissions Trading Scheme had been in existence for 10 years. Despite many comments that it has been a changing beast over that time,…
  • Carbon insurance and the Emissions Trading Scheme (Access: unrestricted)
    Jo McIntonsh and Ollie Belton, February 2018
    Is it time to take another look at your carbon and the Emissions Trading Scheme? In 2011, I was asked to speak to forest owners at the Carbon Forestry Conference.…
  • Why not rabbit farming? (Access: unrestricted)
    Howard Moore, November 2017
    In his useful article Nick Ledgard thoughtfully defines wilding conifers and gives a wide-ranging review of the arguments for and against. He writes with authority, and manages a forest of…
  • Emissions Trading Scheme - Could it be changing for the better? (Access: unrestricted)
    Stuart Orme, May 2017
    The Emissions Trading Scheme managed under the Climate Change Response Act has been operational in New Zealand since the start of 2008. In that time we have seen policy interpretation…
  • A hitch-hiker’s guide to climate change – don’t panic (Access: unrestricted)
    Howard Moore, May 2017
    It was nearly 40 years ago, but some of you might remember in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy that Zaphod Beeblebrox owned a pair of dark glasses that turned…
  • ETS matters: Looking on the bright side of the Field Measurement Approach (Access: unrestricted)
    Stuart Orme, February 2017
    The end of December 2017 marks the end of the Emissions Trading Scheme’s Commitment Period 2. All owners of ETS-registered forests planted after 1989, along with Permanent Forest Sink Initiative…
  • Managing riparian areas for timber and carbon How to get the most from fencing streams (Access: unrestricted)
    Roger May, February 2017
    This article follows on from the article in the August 2016 Tree Grower. This was about government proposals to make stream fencing mandatory on farms and how planting extended riparian…
  • In the ETS, is safe carbon really that safe? (Access: unrestricted)
    Stuart Orme, November 2016
    Many tree growers may have a vague notion that their carbon liabilities at harvest will in fact be less than the total amount of carbon they have claimed in their…
  • Land transfers involving the Emissions Trading Scheme (Access: unrestricted)
    Stuart Orme, August 2016
    The Emissions Trading Scheme as we know it will be nine years old at the end of this year. Despite this, we are regularly working with clients who have been…
  • Emissions Trading Scheme: A recovery for New Zealand Units (Access: unrestricted)
    Lizzie Chambers, August 2016
    The New Zealand carbon market finds itself in an interesting place once again. Late last year saw the announcement of another Emissions Trading Scheme review, the successful international negotiation of…
  • Getting it right with the Inland Revenue Department: Transferring and trading your carbon credits (Access: unrestricted)
    Hamish Levack, August 2016
    Official carbon credits known as New Zealand Units rose 300 per cent in value from around $5 to about $16 during the year ending May 2016. Last May’s Tree Grower…
  • Clean water and carbon credits: How to get the most from fencing streams (Access: unrestricted)
    Roger May, August 2016
    Earlier this year the Ministry for the Environment published the consultation document Next Steps for Freshwater. Submissions on this closed on 22 April. This is part of the continuing process…
  • Do we want carbon credits from harvested wood products? (Access: unrestricted)
    Howard Moore, May 2016
    Those of you who have stumbled across Lærdal in Norway, as you do, might have looked in some wonder at the Borgund stave church. It is a startling building, especially…
  • Will forestry be a winner from the Emissions Trading Scheme Review? (Access: unrestricted)
    Hamish Levack, May 2016
    The Ministry for the Environment admitted recently that, since the Emissions Trading Scheme was set up in 2008, it has made practically no difference to business investment decisions. It has…
  • Reviewing the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (Access: unrestricted)
    Stuart Orme, February 2016
    The government has begun its review of the ETS and has released a review document for consultation. The executive are putting together a comprehensive response on behalf of the NZFFA.…
  • The air is different: Another view of New Zealand’s response to climate change (Access: unrestricted)
    Howard Moore, February 2016
    Back in 1990 Bill McKibben published a book called The End of Nature. An editorial writer for the New Yorker, McKibben wrote the book in an early attempt to bring…
  • The Permanent Forest Sink Initiative nine years on - What is the PFSI and what has it achieved? (Access: unrestricted)
    Stuart Orme, November 2015
    The Permanent Forest Sink Initiative or PFSI forms part of New Zealand’s climate change response which was established in 2006. It allowed land owners to make a commitment to establishing…
  • Deadlines for the Emissions Trading Scheme and safe carbon (Access: unrestricted)
    Stuart Orme, May 2015
    Growers with forests still in the ETS need to be aware of a couple of deadlines coming up. One is the voluntary emissions returns for 2014 and the other is…
  • Emissions Trading Scheme alive and kicking weakly (Access: unrestricted)
    Stuart Orme, February 2015
    The ETS is alive and kicking, sort of. The latest advice from the government is that the ETS is here to stay. The guide price suggested for New Zealand Units…
  • Retrospective law affecting the ETS Bad government? (Access: unrestricted)
    Stuart Orme, August 2014
    In a move widely deemed as unfair and without precedent, in the May 2014 budget the government introduced a retrospective law, the Climate Change Response (Unit Restriction) Amendment Act 2014.…
  • Storm damage and obligations under the Emissions Trading Scheme (Access: unrestricted)
    Ollie Belton, August 2014
    The last twelve months has seen a series of major storms across New Zealand, and if climate science predictions prove correct we are likely to see increases in storm intensity…
  • Leaving the ETS - Potential problems for owners of post-1989 forests (Access: unrestricted)
    Ollie Belton, May 2014
    International units have ruined the New Zealand carbon market. Ironically these same cheap units have also allowed many forest owners to wipe their carbon debt for as little as 25…
  • Is your forest ETS compliant? (Access: unrestricted)
    Ollie Belton, February 2014
    With the crash of the New Zealand carbon market over the past two years, coupled with resurgent log prices, the Emissions Trading Scheme has faded into the background for most…
  • The ETS here and overseas (Access: unrestricted)
    Stuart Orme, August 2013
    Forget fairness, logic and justice. The ETS is all about managing risk and seizing opportunity. As I write this article I am just back from my third trip to China…
  • Remove your ETS obligation for very little cost (Access: unrestricted)
    Stuart Orme, May 2013
    It has been suggested that the ETS has passed its sell-by date and there is little more to say. I would suggest that this could be yet another view versus…
  • Forget offsetting - You can now deforest for less than $300 a hectare (Access: unrestricted)
    Stuart Orme, February 2013
    Under the ETS, owners of pre-1990 forest land become emitters and are required to surrender units if they deforest. This applies if you clear trees from more than two hectares…
  • Is the Doha result a disaster for New Zealand forestry? (Access: unrestricted)
    Geoff Thompson, February 2013
    New Zealand has miscued its international climate change response and the forest industry will suffer. The withdrawal of New Zealand from a second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol has…
  • Select Committee fails to fix ETS Amendment Bill (Access: unrestricted)
    Stuart Orme, November 2012
    The Finance and Expenditure Select Committee released its report on the Climate Change Response Amendment Bill in mid-October. Disappointingly, it remained mainly unchanged from its first reading. The comments of…
  • A message about the ETS - Get informed, get involved or get hamstrung (Access: unrestricted)
    Stuart Orme, August 2012
    The Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) has recently been highlighted in the media as the government announced a number of changes to be implemented in legislation to be passed later this…
  • Is your forest sunk by carbon? (Access: unrestricted)
    Matt Hanna, August 2012
    Valuing a forest for sale before the ETS was introduced was a two-part story of land and trees. Now post-1990 forest owners have to consider what value carbon in their…
  • Permanent Forest Sink Initiative and trees for protection and profit (Access: unrestricted)
    Mark Belton, August 2012
    Forestry is often seen as a threat to farming communities, especially where entire hill country farms are sold up and planted wall-to-wall with radiata pine. However, there are many roles…
  • Carbon credits - Is New Zealand in surplus or deficit? (Access: unrestricted)
    Stuart Orme, May 2012
    I understand that the government believes the country is in surplus for carbon credits and will meet its Kyoto obligations. This is calculated by the amount of carbon in the…
  • Opportunities for carbon forestry (Access: unrestricted)
    Stuart Orme, February 2012
    ‘Come to Africa,’ my daughter chirped over skype three months ago ‘it will be cool’. In fact on the top of Mt Kilimanjaro at 5,895 metres above sea level just…
  • Carbon insurance liability (Access: unrestricted)
    Geoff Manks, February 2012
    You may be a forester growing trees for the purpose of trading your carbon credits, or you may provide professional advice to those involved in carbon forestry, or carry out…
  • Emissions Trading Scheme facing significant challenges (Access: unrestricted)
    Geoff Thompson, February 2012
    The Cabinet is expected to make decisions very soon about the recommendations of the ETS Review panel’s report. It will be dealing with them in the context of the latest…
  • ETS almost four years old (Access: unrestricted)
    Stuart Orme, November 2011
    Within two months of you receiving this issue of Tree Grower the ETS in New Zealand as we know it will be four years old – effectively born on the…
  • The cost of doing nothing - ETS dates loom for small forest owners (Access: unrestricted)
    Stuart Orme, August 2011
    At the risk of sounding repetitive, owners of pre-1990 forestry land are captured by the legislation whether they look for compensatory credits or not. This extends over pines, willows, poplars,…
  • Carbon measurements that forest owners will have to make (Access: unrestricted)
    Hamish Levack, May 2011
    Last year MAF proposed a field measurement approach to determine carbon stocks in post-1989 forest land. As one of the interested stakeholders, the NZFFA has considered the proposal and suggested…
  • To sell or not to sell? (Access: unrestricted)
    Stuart Orme, May 2011
    We would like to think that members of the NZFFA must be some of the better informed forest owners in New Zealand. Undoubtable the allocation of credits for owners of…
  • Making cents for Northland farms with the ETS (Access: unrestricted)
    John-Paul Praat and Bob Thomson, May 2011
    The ETS imposes increased costs on everyone and of course no one thinks that is fair, farmers included. However, the ETS presents some farmers with opportunities to make money. The…
  • Carbon measurements that forest owners will have to make (Access: unrestricted)
    Hamish Levack, May 2011
    Last year MAF proposed a field measurement approach to determine carbon stocks in post-1989 forest land. As one of the interested stakeholders, the NZFFA has considered the proposal and suggested…
  • Will it be possible to get registered in time? (Access: unrestricted)
    Stuart Orme, February 2011
    Emission returns Emission returns are currently being received up to 31 March 2011 for credits sequestered for 2008 to 2010. Remember that when doing the return the legislation requires that…
  • Insuring carbon in your trees (Access: unrestricted)
    Geoff Manks, November 2010
    It is reasonable to ask how you can insure something which without help, you cannot see, hear or feel. Following the introduction of the ETS, forest owners who trade their…
  • Forestry rights and the ETS (Access: unrestricted)
    Stuart Orme, November 2010
    The advent of the ‘forestry right’ some three decades ago has allowed land owners, along with someone without an interest in the land, to invest and own forests together in…
  • Forestry and wood and the ETS (Access: unrestricted)
    Wink Sutton, August 2010
    If we want to reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide why have we limited the forestry contribution to carbon sequestration? Since we cannot go on increasing new planting for ever, the carbon…
  • Pre 1990 forest land allocation plan and new indigenous look-up tables (Access: unrestricted)
    Stuart Orme, August 2010
    This is the third in a series of articles relating to the ETS as it affects land owners and forest growers. Pre 1990 forest land allocation plan MAF expects that…
  • Allocation or exemption opportunity (Access: unrestricted)
    Stuart Orme, May 2010
    You have twelve months from the 1 July this year to apply for your pre 1990 forest allocation of compensation credits, or to apply for a future deforestation exemption. With…
  • Turning MAF policy into profit (Access: unrestricted)
    Stuart Orme, February 2010
    This is the first in a series of articles about forests and carbon. Future articles will look at compensatory payments of credits to pre-1990 forest owners, tax implications and how…
  • Managing carbon trading risk using redwood (Access: unrestricted)
    Paul Silcock, November 2009
    Plantation grown coast redwood is a species eminently suitable for long term carbon sequestration. Other articles in this issue of Tree Grower describe the attributes that make this tree a…
  • Letter to the editor - Afforestation Grant Scheme (Access: unrestricted)
    John Simmons, August 2009
    Dear Sir, Afforestation Grant Scheme I would like to express my views as an Association member and frustration as an applicant on behalf of the Waikato Branch acting for a…
  • The rules applying to deforestation exemptions (Access: unrestricted)
    Allan Laurie, August 2009
    I have received a number of calls from clients, particularly those owning land that contains trees planted pre-1990, anticipating or perhaps considering applying for a deforestation exemption. Below is a…
  • Indigenous forestry options for trading in carbon credits (Access: unrestricted)
    Warwick Silvester, February 2009
    The Kyoto protocol requires us to control or mitigate our carbon emissions. Trees as major carbon sinks are seen as one of the best ways to implement this. Four schemes…
  • Carbon update (Access: unrestricted)
    Piers MacLaren, November 2008
    The Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) is now law. The rules regarding forestry may bring great riches to some, great pain to others, and a shrug of the shoulders to everyone…
  • Carbon gains, losses and risks (Access: unrestricted)
    Piers Maclaren, February 2008
    You own a forest. You have heard about the government’s new Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) but it seems very complicated. There is a huge amount to read and absorb. Do…

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Blogs

  • Carbon price accelerates to new highs - make hay while the sun shines: Jeff Tombleson's blog, July 03, 2021
    The demand nationally for carbon credits comes largely from industry based fossil fuel emitters who are required to purchase around 45 million credits annually for surrender to the Crown.  For example the oil…
  • Me, thee and the PCE: Howard Moore's blog, May 19, 2021
    Simon Upton was surprised by my remarks on his address to the March NZFFA conference. He invited me to talk to him, not to congratulate me on my brilliant analysis…
  • Lets play Simon Says: Howard Moore's blog, March 28, 2021
    I was shaken at the Conference by Simon Upton, who suggested that both the He Waka Eke Noa team and the CCC were thinking about having a levy on agricultural…
  • Discussion points for a meeting with Dr Rod Carr, Chairman of the Climate Change Commission : Howard Moore's blog, January 21, 2020
    As a new item for my blog, I offer a briefing paper that Hamish levack, Egon Guttke and myself gave the Chairman of the Climate Change Commission prior to a meeting…
  • Fruit Hanging at Close to Ground Level: Denis Hocking's blog, December 21, 2014
    On his return from the Climate Change Conference in Lima, earlier this month, Climate Change Minister, Hon. Tim Groser claimed that New Zealand was in a difficult position because it…
  • Gobal emissions and biofuels: Dean Satchell's blog, October 09, 2014
    Global emissions of carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels and cement production grew 2.3 percent to a record high of 36 billion tonnes CO2 in 2013. CSIRO's Dr Pep Canadell,…

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