CarbonInvoice’s response to the New Zealand Government’s Emissions Reduction Plan and Climate Strategy

Carlos Chambers

CEO, cofounder

September 3, 2024

Native bush regenerating farmland in Havelock North 12 years after being planted

CarbonInvoice is strongly supportive of using Nature Based Solutions and planting more native trees to improve New Zealand, reduce the country’s net carbon emissions and meet Paris commitments.

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CarbonInvoice stands for small and medium businesses who are the backbone of the New Zealand economy. The business pressures for them are to to remain competitive both domestically and internationally, differentiate their brand to consumers who increasingly value sustainability as well as retain and enhance their team culture.

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CarbonInvoice exists to help these businesses take climate action in a way that is both easy and commercially rewarding for them. This means efficient measurement and tracking of their carbon footprint and funding the planting of native trees to help mitigate it as the first step in their climate journey. Armed with the information of ‘knowing their number’ and having proven the business value of doing so, these businesses are more likely to reduce their footprint.

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In June the government released its Climate Strategy which sets out the approach to how it will deliver on New Zealand’s climate goals. Pillar 5 of the strategy is “nature-based solutions address climate change” and the plan outlines ways to remove barriers to and increase native tree planting in New Zealand. In July it released its draft Emissions Reduction Plan for consultation which expanded on the strategy.

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Overall CarbonInvoice supports the proposed measures in the Emissions Reduction Plan (2) on planting more native trees in New Zealand. There is opportunity to go further and faster. We outline our response and encouragements below.

Plant more native trees on Crown land than the initial proposed plantings of indigenous trees of 5000ha in 2027 and 7500ha from 2028 and exotic planting of 10,000ha from 2027 could be increased.
Start planting sooner and move faster than the timeframes proposed in ERP2. The current plan proposes the government starts planting in 2027, at least 2.5 years from now and 2 years from the publication of the ERP at end 2024. The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the next best time is now. The government controls the land and this could help provide a potential buffer for meeting future carbon budgets.
The government is interested in exploring partnerships to improve the incentives for native planting. The private sector, including CarbonInvoice and various tree planting organisations including Trees That Count, Conservation Volunteers NZ and My Native Forest have already achieved strong progress and the government should learn from this. Pure Advantage’s research and thinking outlined in “Recloaking Papatuanuku” is instructive and can be leveraged.
The government has said it wants to harness private investment to plant trees on Crown land. We support this for native trees on the basis it can provide important capital required to fund the planting of native trees, and because achieving private investment will help address the reduced incentives to plant natives versus exotics.
Address both sides of the market by bringing clarity to the market and stronger incentives for demand side, the funders of indigenous trees and related financial instruments - and supply side, the landowners growing the trees.

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In doing so the Government can adopt and expand what CarbonInvoice and its thriving community of businesses has already achieved.

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Trees. Kiwi business owners want to fund the planting of native trees as a response to climate change, to increase local biodiversity and to improve the communities and country where they live and operate. CarbonInvoice has funded over 20,000 native seedlings in New Zealand from hundreds of individual businesses.
Planting Action Days. Given the right opportunity Kiwi SMEs will invest their energy, time and labour contributing to native tree planting and connecting with nature. Earlier in July CarbonInvoice’s Planting Action Days were attended by 140 people representing 33 different SMEs planted 3,500 native plants in 3 planting locations in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch (Recap page here). Kiwis already have strong ties to nature, and providing experiences like these can nurture this connection. Feedback from attendees is this builds team culture in a sustainable and long lasting way.
Making carbon measurement and action accessible to SMEs. CarbonInvoice’s research shows under 5% of private businesses in New Zealand measured their carbon footprint ongoing and have taken action to reduce it. CarbonInvoice’s approach of simple, automated measurement combined with native tree funding can reduce barriers to entry for SMEs who want to participate but haven’t had a commercially realistic way to do so.

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It’s now time for the New Zealand government and the country to move forward with concrete action to implement the strategy and once consulted on the ERP. We look forward to supporting and participating in this important work.

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CarbonInvoice is strongly supportive of using Nature Based Solutions and planting more native trees to improve New Zealand, reduce the country’s net carbon emissions and meet Paris commitments.

‍

Plant more native trees on Crown land than the initial proposed plantings of indigenous trees of 5000ha in 2027 and 7500ha from 2028 and exotic planting of 10,000ha from 2027 could be increased.
Start planting sooner and move faster than the timeframes proposed in ERP2. The current plan proposes the government starts planting in 2027, at least 2.5 years from now and 2 years from the publication of the ERP at end 2024. The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the next best time is now. The government controls the land and this could help provide a potential buffer for meeting future carbon budgets.
The government is interested in exploring partnerships to improve the incentives for native planting. The private sector, including CarbonInvoice and various tree planting organisations including Trees That Count, Conservation Volunteers NZ and My Native Forest have already achieved strong progress and the government should learn from this. Pure Advantage’s research and thinking outlined in “Recloaking Papatuanuku” is instructive and can be leveraged.
The government has said it wants to harness private investment to plant trees on Crown land. We support this for native trees on the basis it can provide important capital required to fund the planting of native trees, and because achieving private investment will help address the reduced incentives to plant natives versus exotics.
Address both sides of the market by bringing clarity to the market and stronger incentives for demand side, the funders of indigenous trees and related financial instruments - and supply side, the landowners growing the trees.

‍

In doing so the Government can adopt and expand what CarbonInvoice and its thriving community of businesses has already achieved.

‍

Trees. Kiwi business owners want to fund the planting of native trees as a response to climate change, to increase local biodiversity and to improve the communities and country where they live and operate. CarbonInvoice has funded over 20,000 native seedlings in New Zealand from hundreds of individual businesses.
Planting Action Days. Given the right opportunity Kiwi SMEs will invest their energy, time and labour contributing to native tree planting and connecting with nature. Earlier in July CarbonInvoice’s Planting Action Days were attended by 140 people representing 33 different SMEs planted 3,500 native plants in 3 planting locations in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch (Recap page here). Kiwis already have strong ties to nature, and providing experiences like these can nurture this connection. Feedback from attendees is this builds team culture in a sustainable and long lasting way.
Making carbon measurement and action accessible to SMEs. CarbonInvoice’s research shows under 5% of private businesses in New Zealand measured their carbon footprint ongoing and have taken action to reduce it. CarbonInvoice’s approach of simple, automated measurement combined with native tree funding can reduce barriers to entry for SMEs who want to participate but haven’t had a commercially realistic way to do so.

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Action days New Zealand

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Action day in Australia

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Completed

Action day in Hawke's Bay

September 13, 2024

Hawke's Bay

The first regional planting action day in New Zealand.

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Completed

Action day in Wellington

July 7, 2024

Wellington

Look back at the planting day. 378 native seedlings were planted.

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Carlos Chambers brings 12+ years of entrepreneurial experience across climate, fintech, and b2b software. He founded and successfully grew Common Ledger a fintech and data business. Working with small businesses and their accounting data gave him deep insights into the domain. He combines this with his a commercial law, and climate advocacy background giving him the ideal foundation of experience, skills and passion to build CarbonInvoice.