CarbonCrop

05/08/2026

Selling a property with ETS-registered forest? There’s more paperwork involved than most people realise.

Buying or selling a property is stressful enough without adding ETS administration to the mix. If the forest is registered in the ETS, there are mandatory ownership transfer requirements that need to be handled correctly - and getting them wrong can have ongoing consequences.

"Carbon credits" means two separate things here, and it’s easy to mix them up:
👉 The registered forest’s running unit balance transfers automatically to the buyer as part of the transfer process.
👉 Your own NZUs, already issued to your holding account, stay yours. Whether any change hands with the sale is a private commercial matter, to be settled in the Sale and Purchase Agreement before you sign, not after.

If you’re a CarbonCrop customer, we take the ETS administration off your plate. We’ll manage the transfer process and guide you through your options, whether that’s novating your agreement to the buyer, having them enter into a new agreement, or terminating the agreement.

Read it here: https://www.carboncrop.com/post/selling-a-property-with-ets-registered-forest-here-s-what-has-to-happen

Selling a property with forest registered in the ETS? The registration has to transfer to the new owner, that part's mandatory, whoever manages it. This guide walks through what has to happen with MPI, what happens to your NZUs versus the land's unit balance, and, if CarbonCrop manages your registra...

02/08/2026

Buying a farm with ETS-registered forest on it? A couple of thing to watch for.

Forest carbon obligations attach to the registered forest on the land, not the owner. Buy the property and you inherit both: the ongoing NZUs, and the commitments that come with them.

Two things get confused here:
👉 The unit balance tied to the registered forest transfers to you automatically as part of the transfer process
👉 The seller’s actual NZUs sitting in their own account don’t transfer with the land. That’s a private commercial matter for the Sale and Purchase Agreement.

Check this before you make an offer: if the forest is registered as permanent forestry, it can’t be clear-felled or removed from the scheme. Once you’ve settled, that constraint is yours, whether or not it suits what you had planned for the land.

We’ve put together a plain-English guide covering what you’re taking on, what to ask for, and the specific steps if CarbonCrop manages the registration.

Link to the full guide: https://www.carboncrop.com/post/buying-a-property-with-ets-registered-forest-here-s-what-you-re-taking-on

Considering a property with forest already registered in the ETS? Buying it means taking on the obligations as well as the upside, regardless of who manages the registration. This guide walks through what ETS registration actually commits a new owner to, what happens to the seller's NZUs versus the....

30/07/2026

Bex Hunink, who also works with our team here at CarbonCrop, was at the CCA National Forum. Her message for catchment groups was blunt: don't wait for someone else to solve the funding question for you. Groups that get ahead of it, with a clear picture of their land and a plan for what they would do with more support, are in a much stronger position.

We wrote a bit more about what that looks like in practice. Link in comments below.

07/07/2026

Funding for catchment group work is changing, and the groups in the best shape aren't the ones waiting to see what happens next.

At a recent national forum, one thing came through clearly: funders want proof, not just good intentions. Exactly what land, where, and what it'll cost to plant it.

One group we work with realised they'd spent the better part of a year hoping someone else would sort the funding question. They're now building their own evidence base instead, and it's already changing the conversations they're having with funders.

Link in comments below.

05/07/2026

Ever wondered not just what your forest might earn, but when it actually pays for itself?

This month we added that to CarbonCrop. Alongside your carbon revenue projections, you can now see NPV, IRR and payback period for any site, worked out from your planting costs and expected income. One chart shows your income and costs side by side, so it's easy to see the point where a project breaks even.

We also made it easier to build your own task lists for things like planting plans and farm visits, instead of working from fixed templates.

A few bugs were fixed too, including issues with shapefile downloads and exported report PDFs.

Link in comments below.

02/07/2026

BNZ and Pāmu have set up a new deal that funds the protection and restoration of established native forest, even when it was around before 1990 and doesn't qualify for the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). CarbonCrop's tech measures and verifies the carbon being stored, so everyone involved can trust the numbers.

The pilot covers 600 hectares in northern Hawke's Bay, protected under a QEII covenant, storing around 1,100 tonnes of carbon a year. It's early days, but it's a genuine new pathway for native forest that's been sitting outside the carbon market.

Link in comments below.

24/06/2026

If your forest has been planted, cleared, and replanted more than once, you can now record that full history in the platform, not just the last two cycles. Useful if you're managing land that's been through a few changes over the years.

We've also added a transparency slider to the map layers panel, so it's easier to see what you're looking at when you've got a few layers stacked up.

A handful of other small improvements too. Full notes in comments below.

23/06/2026

Two important ETS dates coming up.

The LUC 6 ballot is open now until 22 July. If you're planning to register exotic forest planted after October 2025 on Land Use Capability (LUC) Class 6 land, this is how you get the permit. It's free to enter this year.

Also due by 30 June: your Final Emissions Return (FER), if the 2023-2025 mandatory return period applies to you.

On top of that, some good news - the annual ETS charge is dropping from $14.90 to $10.28 per hectare from the new financial year.

This is from our CarbonCopy newsletter - sign up to get updates like this every few months. Link in comments below.

21/06/2026

Good news if you've got forest registered in the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS): your annual charge is coming down.

From 1 July 2026, the per-hectare fee drops from $14.90 to $10.28. If your forest has stopped earning carbon credits (NZUs), there's also a new concession - a 45% reduction for around 10 years, then no annual charge at all.

A couple of new fees are coming in from January 2027 too, including one for missed or incorrect emissions returns, so it pays to stay on top of your paperwork.

We've broken down what it all means for you. Link in comments below.

09/06/2026

Turning a hunch about a paddock or two into something concrete takes time and effort - often both in short supply.

CarbonCrop removes that step. For the first time, you can easily see transition opportunities across your land - slope, erosion risk, productivity, with establishment costs and carbon returns already attached.

One 650 ha hill country farm: one in six hectares identified as an opportunity. $21,000 average annual carbon revenue from space planting alone.

Find out what your land could be doing - link in comments below.