If the He Waka Eka Noa plan is not agreed, agriculture will enter the ETS in 2025, initially having to account for 5% of its emissions (increasing 1% p.a. thereafter).
Watters, who is also a dairy farm owner, says at today’s carbon pricing and a 5% exposure to the ETS dairy farmers could face costs of 3 to 4 cents/kgMS – and higher at higher prices.
He says via CQuest, price exposure for 5% of emissions can be held at 1 cent/kgMS.
“While it’s unclear what the impost of future carbon schemes will be, an investment in CQuest Fund is a simple way to mitigate the risk of rising carbon prices.”
The fund envisages sequestering around 520 tonnes of carbon per hectare through the planting of pine trees, generating carbon credits at a cost of $20-25$/tonne.
As the trees grow to maturity, CQuest will sell the credits on the secondary market where carbon credit prices have been trading as high as $59/tonne.
The CQuest Carbon and Forestation Fund offer is open to wholesale investors with a minimum of $50,000 to invest. The offer closes Friday, October 8.