Te mahi ngahere Māori me Te Pūnaha Tauhokohoko Whiwhinga Waro Māori forestry and the Emissions Trading Scheme

About the ETS

You may have heard that some types of ngahere can be registered into the ETS. You may also be wondering if registering is the right thing for your whenua and ngahere.

The ETS was set up to help Aotearoa reduce the damage caused by climate change. Climate change is caused by human activities that release warming gases like carbon dioxide (greenhouse gases) into the atmosphere.

One way to repair this damage is to reduce the greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere. The ETS was set up so organisations that produce greenhouse gases would need to pay for their emissions. Over time, this cost will encourage organisations to lower their emissions.

Ngahere in the ETS

Ngahere help to remove carbon dioxide out of the air while they grow. The ETS provides incentives for ngahere owners and for people to establish ngahere. If your ngahere is eligible and registered in the ETS, you could earn New Zealand Units (NZUs, units, or carbon credits).

You may have to pay back units if you harvest your ngahere, or if you decide to remove the ngahere completely to use the whenua for something else.

Whenua Oho have a video explaining the ETS on their media page.

New Zealand Units

To make businesses and organisations pay for their carbon emissions, some must buy units to pay to the government if they produce greenhouse gases. Generally, one unit is owed for each tonne of carbon dioxide emitted.

Because ngahere absorb carbon dioxide, you can earn units as they grow.
Organisations that must pay units can buy them from the government, or from other parties in the ETS.

The value of units changes over time. This affects how much money you can make from them. If you sell the units you earn and then need to pay them back, you must buy more. You may end up losing money if the price has increased.

Funding

Getting funding could help to pay for the initial costs of planting trees, before you join the ETS.

Our funding page has a list of grants you may be eligible to apply for.

Note: Some grants include a stand-down period in which you can’t enter the land into the ETS or earn units for it.

Is your land eligible?

Only certain types of existing forests are eligible to join the ETS. When your ngahere was planted or established, and what was on the land before, affects whether you can join.

If you have ngahere planted before 1990, you cannot register this in the ETS to earn units.

Getting ETS advice

If the ETS is right for your whenua, there are different steps involved to join. When you join, you have certain responsibilities.

It’s best to talk to a forestry or ETS consultant before you join the ETS.

You can also appoint a representative to help you join the ETS. Your representative can help you:

• register your land in the ETS
• map your land
• complete and submit emissions returns (reporting on your forest growth and any harvesting)
• respond to queries from MPI about your ETS forest land.

Land already in the ETS

Your ngahere may already be in the ETS or have ETS obligations.

If your ngahere is already in the ETS, it must be recorded in notices registered on the land title. Anyone buying forest land should check the title for these notices.

If your ngahere has ETS obligations, there are also other ways you can use this whenua. Growing secondary crops and planting for rongoā are some of the things you could do.