We plant redwood trees in Aotearoa New Zealand to address climate change, enhance biodiversity, and create resilient forests for future generations.
Redwoods are a powerful natural solution for capturing and storing carbon for centuries. We invite you to join us on our journey — whether you want to offset your carbon footprint, invest in a greener future, or grow redwoods on your own land.
If your business is looking to purchase high-quality carbon credits as part of its sustainability strategy, we can help. By focusing exclusively on redwood trees, we ensure effective, lasting carbon sequestration and meaningful long-term environmental benefits.
Our redwoods are registered as Permanent Forest in the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (NZ ETS) and protected by robust government regulations. We provide carbon credits (NZUs) to businesses with surrender obligations under the NZ ETS, and we're also happy to assist companies seeking to voluntarily offset their emissions.
Redwoods can deliver impressive returns — for both you and the planet.
Currently, a single tree species pinus radiata makes up about 90% of all plantation forestry in Aotearoa New Zealand. While pines are versatile and fast-growing, they have relatively short lifespans and are less suited to permanent carbon forestry.
In contrast, redwoods may take a bit longer to establish, but they surpass pine and many other species in permanent carbon sequestration and other positive outcomes. We'd love to talk with investors who want to make a real, lasting impact with their funds, by planting more of these remarkable trees and creating new redwood forests.
Trees do so much good — they capture carbon, provide shade, filter water, control erosion, reduce flooding, and support vital wildlife habitats. Our world needs more forests to help stabilize the climate. And there's one species that quite literally towers above the rest when it comes to long-term benefits: the coast redwood, or sequioa sempervirens. Here's why we're planting them in Aotearoa New Zealand:
Once established, redwoods grow rapidly for a century or more before they start to slow down and reach their maximum size. From a carbon perspective, this means that even a relatively small redwood forest can capture large amounts of CO₂ each year, over many decades, before reaching its peak carbon carrying capacity. In fact, some redwood forests in Aotearoa New Zealand — planted over a century ago — now hold over 4,000 tonnes of CO₂ per hectare.
After reaching maturity, redwoods can continue living for hundreds — or even thousands — of years, sequestering carbon safely away from the atmosphere. California's old-growth redwood forests contain trees over 2,000 years old and up to 120 m tall, with measured carbon storage of up to 9,600 tonnes of CO₂ per hectare. Redwoods are the tallest trees on Earth and have existed for around 240 million years, surviving multiple mass extinction events.
Unlike many exotic tree species in Aotearoa New Zealand, coast redwoods pose a very low risk of wilding spread because of their inconsistent cone production, low-viability seeds, and reliance on vegetative reproduction. This makes them far less likely to disrupt native ecosystems or contribute to the “wilding conifer” issues assoicated with pine and Douglas fir.
Redwoods are naturally resistant to insects, disease, and storm damage, and they're also relatively fire-resistant, thanks to their thick bark and lack of flammable resin. In the event of a disaster, mature redwoods can quickly regrow — or “coppice” — from their existing root system without intervention, providing a kind of natural insurance in a changing climate.
During the winters of 2022 and 2023, we helped plant 48,000 redwood trees across 81 hectares of pasture on a farm in Northland. The property was successfully registered in the Permanent Forest category of the NZ ETS in 2024 and will soon begin earning carbon credits (NZUs). We expect our redwoods there to remove at least 100,000 tonnes of CO₂ from the atmosphere over the next 50 years — not bad for our first planting project!
Jamie Heather, Managing Director
Jamie is a professional software developer who fell in love with trees while searching for practical ways to address the climate crisis. He believes all forms of forestry have a crucial role to play in our transition to a net-zero future — both by capturing carbon and by replacing energy-intensive materials like steel and concrete. When he isn't planting redwoods, Jamie enjoys working with clients in the agritech sector to develop innovative products that reduce emissions and foster a more sustainable world.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please email us at hello@redwoodcarbon.com. We look forward to hearing from you!