May 18, 2014
Budget blow for forest owners
The Forest Owners Association says owners including iwi will be hard-hit by a change in the budget.
President Paul Nicholls says while forest owners will no longer be able to pay their emissions obligations with international units, power companies and other emitters can use them for another year.
The change is supposed to stop ETS participants from selling New Zealand units and then meeting their obligations later with international units, which typically go for a tenth of the price.
Mr Nicholls says forest owners who bought units international units to meet their obligations during the next 12 months, such as when they want to covert to another land use, will be forced to sell them at a likely loss.
He says the change will disproportionately affect small forest owners and iwi.
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