NZ Foresters Warn Rushed ETS Changes Would Hurt Carbon Forest Investment

New Zealand's forestry body is pushing back against calls to overhaul the Emissions Trading Scheme. The New Zealand Institute of Forestry says the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment's report, Adrift, would erode investor confidence and slow planting if its proposals were adopted. The report questions whether forestry should keep earning carbon credits and suggests the scheme is not cutting gross emissions fast enough. The NZIF argues that New Zealand needs both gross emission reductions and carbon removals. It also draws a line between government auction units, which allow emissions, and forestry units, which represent carbon already taken out of the air. Treating them the same, the group says, ignores a fundamental difference. The debate matters beyond New Zealand. It shows how hard it is to design a carbon market that rewards genuine removals without letting polluters avoid cutting their own emissions. For forest owners and carbon investors, the risk is that policy swings will scare off the long term capital needed for new planting.