Actually remove carbon from the atmosphere, and support local native NZ forests.
Photo credit: Nick Burns, CarbonCrop
More and more consumers are demanding a clear commitment from companies to reduce emissions. Eliminating emissions entirely is often not possible, so we will need offsets to get to net zero. You’ve figured out how to tell if you’re looking at a high-quality carbon offset, but why should you consider paying for one?
Buying better offsets like Native CarbonCrop Units (CCUs) means you:
1 Support NZ native forest
New Zealand’s regenerating forest is a national treasure. Restoration and protection activities are critically short of funding, and many forests which need restoration aren’t eligible for ETS carbon credits. Give them the boost they need by buying better voluntary carbon offsets.
2 Enable NZ landholders to drive change
There are 1.4 million hectares of native bush and forest on privately held kiwi farmland. Most of this forest isn’t eligible for any incentives for carbon sequestration under the NZ ETS. Connecting it to voluntary market incentives will unlock landholder and industry ingenuity and ambition, driving new restoration and more carbon sequestration, helping address climate change and restoring biodiversity and protecting water quality at the same time, as well as empowering landholders.
3 Support local
Local landholders, local biodiversity, local certification, local marketplaces. Buying Native CarbonCrop Units keeps 100% of the value and benefits inside the NZ economy. You also help drive a growth industry that NZ could take to the world.
4 Scale your impact
ETS carbon credits already have guaranteed buyers. Buying outside the ETS directs funds to the restoration and protection of forest unable to access the ETS. By purchasing better offsets, you could maximise your impact on native forest restoration and protection at a lower cost, critical to scaling the response to climate change.
5 Removals, not Reductions
NZ consumers want to see their emissions actually balanced out by an equal removal. Shockingly to many, most ‘offsets’ haven’t involved a single gram of carbon being sucked out of the atmosphere - they just represent someone else claiming to put slightly less carbon into the atmosphere… and getting a credit for it. These are called ‘reduction offsets’. The quality record of ‘reductions’ offsets is appallingly bad. These reduction offsets, the majority traded internationally, will not get us to ‘net zero’ - we need true removals to take carbon out of the atmosphere. Read more here.
6 Think Bigger
Scaling the climate response means taking all opportunities. Planting new trees is commendable, but we need to capitalise on the huge resource we have in existing forest land. This resource can be scaled far faster, for far less cost. We owe it to our native species and our climate to make the most of it and protect it, while also continuing to plant trees.
Be recognised as a leader in pushing for better - for businesses, for consumers and our climate.
Buy a better offset today.