The principle behind carbon forestry is that a growing tree absorbs and converts CO2 from the atmosphere into carbon in the form of wood. The amount of carbon stored each year in the tree can be calculated and then sold on the international market in units equivalent to tonnes of CO2 - A carbon credit.

The New Zealand government has passed legislation that allows landowners to establish permanent forests, gain Kyoto emission units and participate in forest carbon trading under rules forest promulgated in the Kyoto Protocol to which New Zealand is a signatory.

Onslow Carbon Forest is registered under the Permanent Forest Sink Initiative (PFSI) legislation and as such will earn internationally tradable carbon credits known as Assigned Amount Units (AAUs)

Carbon is set to become the most traded commodity in the world. It grew from modest beginnings of just 1$1bn in 2004 to $118bn in 2008 and projected to grow to US$669bn by 2013.

By investing in Onslow Carbon Forest an investor is literally growing credits that can be sold on the international market. As well the investment is in a real asset, land and trees, and this asset has other significant environmental benefits.

Carbon Forestry is a unique investment in that the sale of carbon credits can dramatically improve the terms of trade of forestry at the same time as being a truly green, environmentally friendly investment. The time value of money is the major advantage of carbon trading for a forest investor as rather than wait until harvest for income the forest owner can now begin earning income from year one.