Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Carbon credit prices sink by up to a third

Updated at 9:23 am on 24 October 2012

The price local pollutors pay for carbon credits to offset their greenhouse gas emissions has taken another dive.

Prices for some of the most commonly-traded UN-backed carbon credits, mainly from Russia and Ukraine, are down 30% in recent days.

The collapse in prices, which were already at record lows, came after the European Union signalled on Friday that it may ban its pollutors from purchasing the credits.

Online carbon trading platform managing director Lizzie Chambers says the ban threatens to flood the market for units.

Ms Chambers says New Zealand Units suffered after the collapse in the price of the UN-backed units and fell to as low as $2.60 on Tuesday.

Previously, the most recent trade of New Zealand Units on the trading platform Carbon Match was in September, when the price was $3.80.

Ms Chambers says the locally-sourced units are being traded almost exlusively by large industrial firms as forestors cannot afford to sell them at such low prices.

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