Native Carbon Certification for your ETS native forest
Help buyers understand the native forest behind your NZUs. Native Carbon Certification assesses eligible permanent native forests against six quality principles and documents the evidence, through MyNativeForest’s forest management service.
The rules just changed in your favour
Businesses want to support real climate action, and the Government has just set out how they can do it credibly. Buyers can now back their claims with NZUs from permanent native forest, as long as the project behind those units can be shown to meet six quality standards.
Your forest already meets most of them. It just needs the paperwork to prove it.
What buyers need that your NZUs don't have
An NZU on its own is just a unit. It doesn't tell a buyer where the carbon came from, whether the forest is native, or whether the project stands up to scrutiny. That's the information voluntary buyers are asking for, and it's what Native Carbon Certification supplies.
Real forest story
Buyers want to know the land, the trees and the restoration behind their carbon.
Six-principle assessment
Documented evidence that your project is additional, durable, measurable, transparent, respectful of rights and not double counted.
Cancellation proof
Clear record that the units have been cancelled and can't be used again.
Claim support
Wording buyers can use with confidence, so your carbon backs a claim that holds up.
What is Native Carbon Certification?
Native Carbon Certification is our assessment of your forest against the six voluntary market principles. Pass, and your project earns the Native Carbon Badge, and the NZUs it generates become Native Carbon NZUs: the same units, now backed by an evidence pack buyers want.
It doesn't change your NZUs
Certification creates no new credit and alters nothing about your units legally. It documents the project behind them.
It's what makes a premium possible
Buyers pay for confidence. Provenance and evidence are what they're missing, and what certification supplies.
Compliance and marketing handled
We manage your ETS obligations, keep your evidence current, and prepare the documentation buyers need.
Does your forest qualify?
Native Carbon Certification is available for eligible native forests registered in the ETS permanent category and managed by MyNativeForest. With another manager? Enquire about moving your forest management to us.
Registered in the ETS, permanent category
All native forest
Under MNF account management, or ready to be
The six principles you're assessed against
These are the Government's standards for credible voluntary climate action. Permanent native forest in the ETS already meets much of what they ask. Certification is how we document it.
Additional
The forest exists because of carbon, not because a rule required it.
Durable and permanent
The carbon stays put. Permanent category registration does most of this work already.
Real and measurable
The forest is real, mapped, and its carbon measured through the ETS.
Transparent
The project, the evidence and the limits of the claim are all on the record.
Respectful of rights
Ownership, access, cultural and community interests are clear and uncontested.
Not double counted
The same carbon isn't claimed anywhere else, by anyone else.
What we use as evidence
Certification is a desktop assessment. We draw on three sources, and most of the work is ours.
Your ETS records
Registration status, permanent category, project maps, site photos and unit issuance. The ETS has already established most of what the principles ask for.
Your declaration
A short form confirming your authority, your intent to keep the forest permanent, and anything we should know about covenants, funding or competing claims.
Public records
We check titles, district plans, hazard layers, Māori land records and heritage listings to confirm nothing conflicts with the principles.
Why certification has to be maintained
A badge is only worth something if it's still true. Forests change, ownership changes, rules change. Certified forests stay under our account management so the evidence behind your badge stays current, and buyers can trust what it says.
ETS compliance
We manage your registration, records and emissions returns so your permanent status holds.
Certification status
We keep your evidence current and reassess when your forest or your circumstances change.
Market access
Your forest is listed and marketed with its story and evidence pack, ready for buyers to purchase.
Sales and payment
We handle the sale and you receive payment when buyers purchase your Native Carbon NZUs.
How certification works
Tell us about your forest
Share your forest’s location and ETS status so we can discuss management and certification.
Join our forest management service
We arrange account management and assess your forest against the six principles using your ETS records and supporting evidence.
Get certified and reach buyers
If your forest meets the requirements, it earns the Native Carbon Badge and we prepare its profile and evidence for buyers.
A native carbon pathway that's ready today
Plenty is being developed in New Zealand's voluntary carbon market: international schemes, riparian and wetland credits, new domestic standards. We track all of it. Right now, permanent native forest in the ETS with Native Carbon Certification is the one pathway you can actually use.
Today's market
ETS registration plus Native Carbon Certification. Proven, available, and working for landowners now.
What we're watching
Riparian and wetland credits, biodiversity credits, international schemes, and the standards taking shape behind them. Our latest thinking on where native carbon is heading.
Questions
Find answers about certification, eligibility and the path to market.
Yes. Eligible native forests registered in the ETS permanent category can be certified through MyNativeForest’s forest management service. If you’re with another manager, talk to us about moving to us.
Certification builds on permanent-category ETS registration and MNF forest management. Start with an ETS assessment and we’ll explain the registration and management pathway.
No. Native Carbon Certification creates no new credit and changes nothing about your NZUs legally. It documents the project behind them, so buyers know what they're getting.
Certification is only credible while the evidence behind it is current. That takes ongoing ETS administration, evidence upkeep and buyer documentation. To hold the Native Carbon Badge, your forest stays under MNF annual account management.
It can. Buyers pay for confidence, and provenance and evidence are what they're missing. Certification supplies both, which is what makes a premium possible. What a buyer actually pays depends on the market.
Still have questions?
Interested in Native Carbon Certification?
Tell us about your ETS native forest and enquire about certification through our forest management service. Not registered yet? Start with an ETS assessment.
