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Native trees and CO₂

We’ve partnered with our friends Tāne’s Tree Trust, a non-profit charity who loves native trees as much as we do, to share access to their easy-to-use carbon calculator.

The Tāne’s Tree Trust National Carbon Calculator helps you work out how many native shrubs and trees you’ll need to plant to mitigate your carbon footprint from today as your trees or forest grows over time. 

You can also work out how much carbon dioxide your planted trees would help remove from the atmosphere if they thrive for a minimum life span of 50 years.

Try the calculator Try the examples
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Using the calculator

The amount of CO2 your trees are capable of absorbing is based on a 50-year timeframe of continuous growth. 

Remember, if you are calculating based on annual emissions, such as the use of your car or household activities, trees will need to be planted each year based on your annual carbon emissions — not just as a one-off. 

How many planted native trees would have the potential to balance my CO2 emissions?

How much CO2 would my planted native trees remove after 50 years of growing?

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Carbon emissions and timeframe

Please enter number of emissions

Please enter an age of stand in year

Warning, your stand age is very young. Trees do not sequester much carbon in the first few years after planting. Suggest you increase age to at least 20 years.

Carbon emissions

Find out how much CO2 you may be emitting using the Tāne’s Tree Trust calculator. There are also many other carbon footprint calculators out there to use to get an estimate of your CO2 footprint.

Age of stand or timeframes

Trees take some time from planting before they are large enough to make full use of sunlight, moisture and soil. The basis for all calculations are typically on a period of several decades. The standard timeframe is 50 years to balance emissions for one year.

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Planting mix

Planting mix

Trees are species which grow into tall trees such as totara, kauri, and rimu. Shrubs are smaller tree species that grow only 6-10m in height, such as mānuka. It is common practise when establishing native plantations to grow a mixture of trees and shrubs. The fast-growing shrubs provide shelter and protection for the tree species.

We have added the default mix of 25% for trees and 75% for shrubs. You can change the mix if you have the information.

 

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Do you have your own measurements?

This section is for planters who want to add measurements from their own plantings to calculate their emissions. If you’re a business or funder wanting to work out how many trees you need to plant to mitigate your emissions as your trees grow over time just ignore this section.

Please enter an age of stand when measured

Trees

Shrubs

Including your own measurements

A calibration measurement involves collecting data from a specific stand to allow a more accurate prediction of carbon sequestered by that stand at the time of measurement survival = the percentage of planted trees of shrubs still living.

Height = mean height of sterns

DBH = Diameter at Breast Height (diameter taken at 1.4m above ground)

RCD = Root Collar Diameter (diameter taken at 10 cm above ground)

Reset

The carbon calculator we provide access to is owned, developed and offered for use free-of-charge by not-for-profit charity, Tāne’s Tree Trust. 

This carbon calculator is not for use to determine an official CO2 offset, nor to determine benefits or liabilities under the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme, or to make any claims of carbon neutrality. The calculations only show the potential of CO2 absorption based on a default setting of trees growing continuously for 50 years.

See more info about the CO2 calculator, and the calculations derived from it below.

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Common scenarios you could try

Below are some common examples of the number of native trees you would need to plant to mitigate your CO2 emissions from today over 50 years.

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A return flight from Auckland to Wellington

1 NATIVE TREE
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A return flight from Christchurch to Auckland

2 NATIVE TREE S
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A return flight from Queenstown to Wellington

1 NATIVE TREE
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A return flight from Auckland to Sydney

4 NATIVE TREE S
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A return flight from Auckland to London

34 NATIVE TREE S
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Use of medium-sized car, 10,000 km

9 NATIVE TREE S
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Household electricity use for 1 year (8,000 kWh)

3 NATIVE TREE S
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Avg household of 2 adults & 2 children emissions per year

32 NATIVE TREE S

You can find more examples on the Tāne’s Tree Trust calculator.

Trees That Count CO₂

Important info about using the carbon calculator, and how Trees That Count calculates CO2 throughout our website. For more information around the carbon calculator, and understanding your calculations, visit the Tāne’s Tree Trust website.

  • The carbon calculator we provide access to is that owned and developed and offered for use free-of-charge by Tāne’s Tree Trust.  
  • The models used by Tāne’s Tree Trust for its carbon calculator are based on a number of growth models and allometric equations developed for New Zealand native trees and shrubs. The actual amount of carbon sequestered by a particular stand can vary from the calculator predictions and are dependent on-site quality, stand characteristics and management. Further information around the carbon calculator, the underlying models and methodologies, and understanding the calculations you derive from it is set out on Tāne’s Tree Trust website.
  • Access to the carbon calculator is provided as a guide only to what nature is capable of, as determined in accordance with the models used by Tāne’s Tree Trust and is based on the planting and continuing growth of the relevant trees and shrubs for the term you select when you use the carbon calculator. Trees That Count takes no responsibility for the estimates provided by the carbon calculator. You use the carbon calculator and any resulting calculations at your risk.
  • The carbon calculator is not for use to determine an official CO2 offset, nor for use to determine benefits or liabilities under the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme.
  • Our total tree count CO2 calculation is derived from using the carbon calculator and is based off an assumption that the tree count is made up of a range of between 5% tall tree species and 95% shrubs (smaller trees) through to 25% tall tree species and 75% shrubs (smaller trees) and is calculated over a 50-year timeframe – assuming the trees are planted and grow for all of that period. You can check out the commonly planted species here.
  • CO2 calculations given on our funder profile pages are derived from using the carbon calculator and are based off the planting of 25% tall tree species and 75% shrubs (smaller trees) and are calculated over a 50-year timeframe (assuming the trees planted grow for all of that period), as this is the average mix of species that Trees That Count funds.
  • Because Trees That Count is reliant on data provided to us by our planting community we cannot guarantee its accuracy, though as we improve our monitoring tools we will be able to provide more robust data to inform the CO2 calculations for our total tree count and funder profile calculations, and such calculations may decrease or increase accordingly. Such calculations may also increase or decrease as Tāne’s Tree Trust takes any action to update its data and/or add functionality to its carbon calculator.
  • The calculations given in our 'Common scenarios' are based off emissions calculations given on the Toitu Envirocare Emissions Calculator. 
  • See our terms and conditions for more information on accessing the carbon calculator and using the calculations you derive from it.
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Native trees and shrubs have a powerful role to play in the fight against climate change. Mitigate your carbon footprint by supporting native tree planting through Trees That Count.

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