Some of the properties were for planting in plantation forestry (pinus radiata) which would be harvested.
Among the successful applicants was Drylandcarbon One Ltd Partnership, which received consent to acquire four properties - 947ha at Taumarunui, 80ha at Ōwhango, 104ha in the Far North, and 329ha at Pohangina.
Dryland Carbon is a partnership between Air New Zealand, Contact Energy, Genesis Energy and Z Energy.
It has established a portfolio of exotic forests for both timber and carbon credits to meet its compliance surrender obligations under the ETS.
Toitū Te Whenua/Land Information New Zealand said all of the decisions were made under the special forestry test, which meant the land must be used for plantation forestry activities such as maintaining, harvesting, and/or establishing a crop of trees.
The consent explicitly excluded permanent forestry.
B+LNZ has called on the Government to urgently clarify its plans to address the issue, with McIvor saying that last week's decision came out without context.
"In March this year, the Government released consultation material that acknowledged significant concerns about carbon farming, specifically the amount of whole sheep and beef farms being sold into carbon-only farming where exotic trees are planted with no intention to harvest.
"While we didn't think their proposal to change the permanent category in the ETS would fix the problem, at least it was a step in the right direction.
"Now all of a sudden the Government has done a u-turn and we have no indication of how they intend to address an issue they've previously acknowledged.
"The lack of information is deeply concerning."
Listen to Jamie Mackay interview Sam McIvor on The Country below:
While there were legitimate concerns raised during the consultation process about missed opportunities, B+LNZ believed those could have been addressed through an exemptions regime.
In the meantime, more farms were being sold for carbon farming and that was "gutting rural communities" and jeopardising the $12 billion annual income the sheep and beef sector generated.
In its report to Climate Change Minister James Shaw last month, the Climate Change Commission said Ināia Tonu Nei - the first commission's first advice to Government on Climate Action - noted that increasing the amount of native and exotic forests could play a role in helping achieve the country's emissions budgets and emissions reduction targets.
Listen to Jamie Mackay interview Minister of Agriculture Damien O'Connor about carbon farming on The Country below:
Through its consultation, the commission heard concerns that whole farms could be planted in exotic forests, either for production forestry or permanent carbon forestry.
The scale of conversion and associated unit supply into the NZ ETS could be substantial and could affect the achievement of gross emissions reductions.
The impact of the NZ ETS on land-use change could be material to the economy in some communities.
"Addressing this issue may require further changes to the design of the NZ ETS which are beyond the scope of this advice and may have implications for future NZ ETS settings advice."
Meanwhile, wool industry stalwart David Ferrier, who had bought a stake in wool scouring company WoolWorks, said the company was keeping a close eye on the conversion of productive farmland into carbon farms.
"We share the red meat sector's concerns about the unbridled ability of fossil fuel emitters to offset their greenhouse gas emissions by planting trees on productive sheep and beef farms.
