Why we’re giving ourselves a bit more time
Following yesterday’s launch announcement, we received some expressions of concern around the principles of CarbonCrop Units - specifically that we issue CarbonCropNative units to landholders who are already taking action to restore forest, not just those who are considering future planting.
This approach isn’t unique to CarbonCrop - it’s actually widespread - but we still took this feedback to heart, as building trust and understanding within carbon markets is what we’re all about! We’re committed to increasing biodiverse forest and removing carbon - which is critical to achieving net zero - we don't want to risk being part of the problem.
As a result, we’ve decided to temporarily pause issuing CarbonCrop Units while we review the questions raised and any potential clarification required.
Our marketplace partner Carbonz has also temporarily paused trading of CarbonCrop Units, but the NZ ETS's NZUnits (which are independent of this concern) will continue to be traded on the platform.
We’re a bit disappointed about the delay, but given that we’re moving out of a closed beta into public launch, we want to make sure to do it right!
What next?
We’re continuing to accept expressions of interest from both landholders and buyers regarding Native CCUs on their properties.
Our land assessments are still up and running, and we’ll continue to assess potential for both ETS carbon credits and Native CCUs. Plus our usual services to register landholders for the ETS will remain unaffected.
We’re determined to improve on the current situation under which vast areas of forest in NZ and internationally - forests that are actively sequestering CO2 - go unrecognised… and where for those forests which are recognised there are recurring questions of integrity. As soon as we’re confident our position is clear and there’s no risk of confusion, and we’re ready to issue Native CCUs to new landholders again, we’ll update our website.
So far we haven’t received any indications of concern or confusion from buyers or registered landholders, however if you are one of our buyers or landholders and you have any concerns at all please get in touch with us via our contact page - above all else we’re determined to do right by those of you who have joined us on this journey to improve forest restoration.