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.