The Gillard Government has approved four more methodologies for creating CFI carbon credits, with carbon sink forestry company CO2 Australia and a WA local government authority set to be among the beneficiaries.
After advice from its expert advisory committee (DOIC), the Government has approved methodologies for:
- reforestation and afforestation (proposed by CO2 Australia);
- human-induced regeneration of even-aged native forests (developed mainly by Australian Carbon Traders);
- methane destruction from piggeries using engineered biodigesters (the second piggery-related methodology to be approved, prepared with the involvement of Sunpork); and
- diversion of legacy waste to an alternative waste treatment facility (proposed by Global Renewables, Southern Metropolitan Regional Council, and Natural Recovery Systems).
CO2 Australia set to register 30,000 hectares
Approval of the afforestation/reforestation methodology means CO2 Australia can now register almost 30,000 hectares of carbon sink forestry projects and commence production of Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs), which can be used by entities with carbon price scheme liabilities.
"This is a hugely exciting and commercially significant outcome," said CO2 Group chief executive officer Andrew Grant.
"Now that we have the determination, its 'game-on' for registering projects under the CFI and we are looking forward to getting on with the business of generating ACCUs for our clients," he said.
Australian Carbon Traders managing director Ben Keogh described approval of the native forests methodology as "an important step in the development of carbon farming as it will allow landholders to add another land use option to their farming toolkit".
"There are tens of thousands of hectares of Australian country ready to use this methodology to blend carbon and farming on the one property," Keogh said. "This creates a great opportunity for landholders throughout Australia."
The legacy waste methodology jointly proposed by Global Renewables, Southern Metropolitan Regional Council and Natural Recovery Systems, is adapted from methodologies previously approved under the now-defunct Greenhouse Friendly Scheme for waste composting abatement projects.
