Download this to view the Emissions Trading Scheme Seminar Programme

The New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme is part of the Government’s primary response to global climate change. ‘Emissions trading’ is a financial market-based approach for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases. Emission units – sometimes called ‘carbon credits’ – are traded between participants in the scheme. The scheme introduces a price on greenhouse gas emissions to provide an incentive for people to reduce those emissions and plant forests to absorb carbon dioxide. This talk explains how the NZ ETS works and what it might mean for Southland businesses.

The talk will provide an explanation of the opportunities for land owners looking to enter the forestry sector to take advantage of the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme. The talk will identify who the parties are that can benefit from carbon forestry, how tradable units are awarded, the process of entering eligible forest into the scheme and an overview of the carbon market and the process of trading carbon units. The estimated returns that can be earned from carbon forestry and how carbon assets must now be integrated with the traditional management of timber assets are described.

Denis will talk about the forestry programmes run by MAF, the Afforestation Grant Scheme, Emission Trading Scheme, Permanent Forest Sink Initiative and Indigenous Forestry. He will also touch on the Sustainable Farming Fund.

This talk will explain how to reduce operating costs and put more money back to the bottom-line, how to understand and effectively manage potential risk exposure and gain a competitive edge and market exposure through robust GHG certification.

The talk briefly outlines why one would want to capture and sequester carbon. The ways in which capture is achieved are described, namely flue gas scrubbing to separate carbon dioxide, oxy combustion to produce a “pure” carbon dioxide flue gas and pre-combustion treatment to remove carbon and produce hydrogen as the final fuel for combustion. The possible sequestration modes are briefly discussed. The probable energy and cost penalties for CCS are briefly outlined.