CQuest Limited Partnership

If New Zealand is to achieve a 50% reduction in net carbon emissions by 2030, we need to plant more trees.

CQuest Carbon and Forestation Fund is an investment that will generate income from the rapidly rising price of carbon. It is forecast to generate income of 10-13% p.a. from carbon credit sales in years 5-17 and IRR of 6-9% p.a. over its lifetime. Additional returns will come from harvesting the trees at full maturity.

CQuest Funds plan includes developing a portfolio of up to 1500 hectares of pine forests on steeper North Island hill country over three years. 

This is MyFarm’s first carbon investment offer. With carbon credit prices trading as high as $59/tonne and industry forecasters estimating they need to increase to around $100/tonne for New Zealand to meet its emissions target, CQuest Fund is an exciting proposition.

Climate change (a.k.a. global warming) is occurring because there is a buildup of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere that is largely attributed to the activities (e.g. burning fossil fuels) of a growing human population. These gases trap heat, which is why temperatures around the globe are increasing.

Trees absorb or sequester carbon during photosynthesis, storing it in their trunks, branches and leaves, and removing it from the atmosphere. This is why trees are often referred to as carbon sinks.

The average New Zealander emits 7.64 tonnes of Carbon per year. A 1-hectare block of pine trees sequesters, on average, 30 tonnes of carbon per year.

When the Government ratified the Paris Agreement in October 2016, it committed New Zealand to an ambitious target – to reduce carbon emissions to 30% below 2005 levels by 2030.

Planting more trees to sequester more carbon is crucial to this plan.

During the first 16 years, the 1500 hectares of pine trees developed by CQuest Fund will sequester 717,000 tonnes of Carbon. That’s enough to offset the emissions of 93,850 people, more than the entire population of Palmerston North for a year.