Westpac first bank in New Zealand to offer carbon trading

Westpac is cutting through the green tape surrounding emissions trading and offering practical solutions to help New Zealand transition to a low carbon economy.

The bank has written to 600 representatives of the New Zealand forestry industry to discuss the option of dealing their carbon credits through Westpac, who will then package them up to help large carbon-liable companies trade off their carbon debits.

Westpac is the first New Zealand bank to offer this service and the first major financial institution to get actively involved in the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme. Lloyd Cartwright, Managing Director of Westpac’s Financial Markets NZ, says the bank is actually the first intermediary to enter the market beyond simply offering a broking service.

“This will provide the ‘missing link’ between smaller forestry companies with carbon credits on their books, who are looking to monetise them now, and corporate entities who need to acquire larger volumes of carbon credits to manage their liability,” he says.

“It helps ensure the forestry entities get good value for their carbon and also allows large liable entities to manage their carbon exposure in an efficient and cost effective manner,” says Cartwright. “And through this process we’re able to foster the creation of an actual market price for New Zealand units.”