PFSI Forest Owners: millions from sales to Voluntary Markets

22 March 2012

PFSI Forest Owners earn extra millions from sales to Voluntary Markets

Mark Belton said his company, Permanent Forests International, is on track to deliver 600,000 voluntary carbon credits, called PFSI VERs, to offshore buyers by the middle of the year.

In 2009 Permanent Forests Int. developed and marketed a unique voluntary carbon credit from NZ forests registered under the Permanent Forest Sink Initiative (PFSI) for pre-2008 carbon. Others have attempted to sell pre-2008 voluntary units from ETS forests but had failed. Mark explains that the voluntary market expects high standards of environmental integrity such as safeguards against deforestation and ensuring a level of forest permanence. The PFSI has these attributes whereas they are lacking under the ETS forestry rules.

So far the Company has sold over 500,000 PFSI VERs, earning forest owners more than NZ$2M in extra revenue. Mark said an exclusive order has recently been signed for the delivery of another 100,000 units.

Registrations in the PFSI have surged since a favourable review of the Scheme was completed by MAF last year. Mark said new requests to his Company for PFSI registrations have increased to several a week because landowners are realising they are running out of time to register and capture ownership of their carbon. “Unless registrations are completed by the end of the year the NZ Government keeps all the carbon that has accumulated in the forest between 2008 to 2012”.

Mark Belton
Permanent Forests International Limited

ENDS

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