Founded in 2020, CarbonCrop yesterday launched a Native CarbonCrop Unit (CCU) that gives native reforestation landowners access to income outside of emissions trading schemes.
The company has worked with 15 landowners nationwide as pre-launch pilots, with more than 5,000 CCUs certified for 631 ha of primordial regeneration, worth about $ 260,000 at current prices, the company’s statement said. ..
Over $ 140,000 of these credits are sold to companies such as Christchurch Airport, Heilala Vanilla and Les Mills via the Carbonz platform.
Founded by Finn Ross, Carbonz is a New Zealand native carbon credit exchange. Buyers of all sizes can buy credits to offset emissions or as an investment. Sold both voluntary and regulatory carbon credits on the exchange.
Ross is the sustainability manager of Lake Haware Station, New Zealand’s first carbon positive certified farm, and is cultivated by prominent entrepreneurial parents Jeff and Justin Ross. He is also a PhD student studying seaweed as a natural way to reduce climate change.
The Glen Dene station, opposite the Burdon family-owned Hawea Lake station, was one of the first recipients of the CCU.
CarbonCrop has identified 305ha of eligible primeval forest on 3000ha of land and issued 3100 tonnes of carbon dioxide credits isolated over the last four years.
Station owners Richard and Sarah Birdon have already sold some of these credits and earned over $ 75,000.
The concrete results of the process showed a couple where stations could generate new conservation-related income sources alongside traditional agriculture, Birdon said.
Landowners can specify areas of native regeneration they want to retire, and CarbonCrop issues native CCUs each year in response to forest growth and changes in actual carbon storage.
Once registered, landowners can sell native CCUs or use them to offset their products and services.
Each native CCU was equivalent to a ton of carbon isolated and was initially priced at $ 50.
CarbonCrop used AI to analyze species mixing, height, density, and the growth of regenerating primeval forest over time.
AI accurately mapped forest boundaries in vast areas and helped create detailed models of carbon storage and sequestration within forest areas up to 1 square meter of land. You can detect alien species and exclude them from the carbon calculation.
CarbonCrops plans to evaluate blocks up to 1ha.