The carbon market may, on the surface, sound fictional, but
it is real, although rules will restrict the volume of
credits that can be traded internationally.
This year Ernslaw One sold 520,000 carbon credits, or New
Zealand Units (NZUs), to the Norwegian Government for a
figure believed to have exceeded $11 million, and further
sales are expected in each of the next few years.
Last month a Sydney company, GreenAir Ltd, pooled together a
parcel of NZUs from 14 New Zealand forest owners which were
sold to a European Government compliance buyer, for an
undisclosed amount.
But, as part of the Kyoto Protocol agreement, just 10% of
NZUs, about 308 million, can be sold off-shore, with the rest
required to be traded within New Zealand.
New Zealand Farm Forestry Association chairman Patrick Milne
said with a domestic market still to be established and
owners of pre-1990 forests receiving credits next year,
owners could be looking to sell remaining credits up to the
10% mark overseas as soon as possible.
"The way I look at it, I think the New Zealand legislation is
flawed and common sense will prevail and we will have to
change it," Mr Milne said.
GreenAir chairman and executive director Himanshu Dua said
the company hoped to facilitate the sale of another seven
million tonnes of forestry carbon credits in the protocol's
first commitment period, 2008-12, and was already in talks
with potential buyers both internationally and domestically.
Mr Dua said generally, carbon credit buyers were interested
in large volumes, which made finding a market difficult for
small to medium forest owners.
In this case, GreenAir grouped credits from owners of small
and medium-sized forests into a saleable package.
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