Planting for the planet – The case for carbon forestsFriday 15 Aug 2025
Carbon forestry refers to planting trees to sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as a public-good service, with an end-goal of slowing climate change. Carbon sequestered by forests plays an important role in helping New Zealand to meet its international obligations under the Paris Agreement. It can also be sold through the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), which functions as a market-based mechanism to reduce emissions by pricing carbon. Most carbon forests use exotic tree species, particularly Pinus Radiata due to its superior growth rate and capacity to store more carbon in a shorter time frame than most other species, especially natives. This is about creating a tool in the climate response toolkit that works quickly and efficiently. Many carbon forests are dual purpose Importantly, growing trees for carbon sequestration and growing trees for timber production are not mutually exclusive as commonly believed. While there is limited hard data, anecdotal evidence suggests much of the recent planting is for bothcarbon income and eventual harvest. That dual purpose is both practical and strategic. The carbon market is a policy construct vulnerable to political whim. Production forestry on the other hand, is a long-term commodity investment. Relying solely on carbon revenue would be risky. Instead, the income offered through carbon provides critical, early cashflow for tending of a forest to maximise harvest value and support management activities. In other words, for many foresters carbon income is not the cake, it’s the icing. Establishment of new carbon forests is rapidly slowing There has been a marked increase in carbon forestry since 2018. Whole-farm conversions have accounted for most of the expansion, with significant involvement of corporates and overseas investment. This has caused a degree of angst in the rural sector – although it needs to be noted that the total area of exotic forest is not that much greater now than way back in 2002. If we look at the figures from the latest Orme and Associates report, by 2024 whole-farm conversions had decreased by over 50 percent from peak conversion in 2022, and are continuing to trend down in 2025. Conversions are now at the lowest rate we’ve seen in six years. Farmers have had a lobbying win The Bill currently before Parliament is a lobbying win for farmers. It proposes to restrict what land can be registered in the ETS. Landowners would be permitted to plant up to 25 percent of their Land Use Class 1 – 6 land in forest for ETS purposes. Whole-farm conversions would face a complete moratorium on Class 1 – 5 land (i.e., cropping and better-quality pastoral land) and a hard cap of 15,000 ha per year of new planting on Class 6 land (good-to-average pastoral land), with some serious issues around how this quota would be allocated. Class 7 and 8 land – poorer quality pastoral land and steeper “tiger country” respectively – remain unrestricted. Even so, some farming groups are still not satisfied. They want the moratorium extended to include Class 6 land as well. This would effectively push any future expansion of corporate forestry that wishes to register in the ETS onto Class 7 – land which is marginal even for production forestry. Such a move severely constrains the viability, let alone expansion, of a sector that has grown to become New Zealand’s fifth largest export earner. Needless to say, the corporate side of town is not happy. Gross versus net emissions debate There is a broader philosophical debate here. Should we focus on reducing gross emissions – cutting what we put into the atmosphere? Or on net emissions, which factors in removals via carbon sinks like forests? More >> Source: Richard Holloway Richard Holloway is an agricultural economist and farm-forester with 280ha of mixed species production forest registered in the ETS. He is also a chair at next week's Carbon Forestry 2025  | ||
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