CarbonClick is a New Zealand company that exists to reverse climate change, CarbonClick empowers businesses and their customers to tackle climate change, by making carbon offsets simple, trustworthy and cost effective. They’re working to build a happier and more sustainable future for everyone.

The money paid to CarbonClick for carbon credits goes towards certified carbon offset projects that have been assessed as meeting global standards. The funds are distributed amongst carbon offset suppliers carrying out the projects. CarbonClick takes a margin on the carbon credits for sourcing projects, quality assurance, administration, and transaction fees.

A carbon credit is how to buy or sell a voluntary carbon offset. For every tonne of carbon dioxide (CO2) that a project manages to absorb or avoid, a carbon credit is issued. Carbon credits are certified by international standards and held in registries like the Gold Standard Registry (international credits) or the Emissions Trading Register (New Zealand).

By supporting our nature-based carbon offset projects you are doing much more than just planting trees. You are helping create native forests for our future generations.

For every 5c fuel discount you convert over 20kg of carbon is sequestered - equivalent to the carbon captured by an average tree each year. But, the benefits of this extend beyond simply sequestering carbon. Creating a native forest involves many activities, including protecting land, pest control, creating healthy spaces for trees to grow and assisting trees to grow to maturity through activities such as weeding, watering and caring for the soil. Regenerating our forests is a vital part of creating a healthy ecosystem, which will beautify and protect our environment for generations to come.

So, while it’s not as clear cut as saying that each carbon offset is equivalent to a specific number of plants, here is some information that might help:

• Native forests have about 2,500 stems per hectare
• A hectare of regenerating forest sequesters about 10 tonnes of CO2 each year
• A stem includes plants such as seedlings, grasses, shrubs and trees, which on average sequester about 4kg CO2 per year
• On average, in a forest, the mature trees sequester about 20kg per year

The carbon emissions are calculated using the Ministry for the Environment’s latest emissions factors. This emissions factor states how many kilograms of carbon are emitted per kilowatt hour for the average electricity consumer in New Zealand. These government issued figures make for a simple calculation of “emissions factor x kilowatt hours = carbon emissions”.

The purchased electricity emissions factor set by the Ministry for the Environment considers various energy mixes across the year to provide an average emissions factor for electricity generated in New Zealand. This emissions factor does not account for losses associated with transmission and distribution of electricity, or the emissions associated with extraction, production and transport of fuels that are burnt to produce electricity (these are indirect, or ‘scope 3’ emissions).

No, although you can be forgiven for wondering as this is a common misconception! Effectively the ETS is a tax on those who emit CO2 and is called a carbon credit. Payments to the ETS for permits do not directly lead to tree planting or carbon offsets. Electricity providers are required to surrender one carbon credit for every two that are emitted.

With CarbonClick, your offset dollar, or reward, is purchasing actual reductions in carbon emissions, through projects like forest conservation and planting.

Alongside displaying our impact in kilograms of carbon offset, we also communicate 'tree growth years'. This is a comparative figure, reflecting how many average trees, growing and storing carbon for one year, it would take to sequester the carbon.

This calculation is based on an average sized mature tree, which sequesters (absorbs) around 20kg of carbon per year. Creating a native forest involves many activities such as protecting land, pest control, creating healthy spaces for trees to grow and assisting trees to grow to maturity through activities such as weeding, watering and caring for the soil.  

The price of carbon in New Zealand is set via a spot price in the financial market that fluctuates based on market activity. The cost of a carbon credit changes over time and has been steadily increasing in price. For this initiative, CarbonClick purchases 100% New Zealand native forest carbon credits, with high biodiversity impact and other co-benefits. These credits are sold at a higher price in the carbon market due to their high level of integrity.