Cattle farmers would be big winners under a new draft carbon credit method, and four Tasmanian forest protection projects that are no longer entitled to earn credits would be rescued under another.
The Federal Government has proposed amendments to Carbon Farming Initiative regulations that will make it possible to earn credits from three new activities, and WA iron ore projects might become a beneficiary.
The Federal Government should specify a default carbon sequestration rate for soil-based projects, so they can get going quickly, an offsets consultancy has recommended.
Draft CFI changes go part of the way to enabling states to create valuable carbon credits by reducing native forest logging on Crown Land – but major roadblocks remain, says ANU forests and carbon expert Andrew MacIntosh.
Shadow Climate Change Minister Greg Hunt yesterday clarified his position on changing a Carbon Farming Initiative timing rule, indicating that a special 'weighting' could be given to projects that demonstrate they will store carbon for 25 years, rather than demonstrating the capacity to do so for 100 years.
State and territory governments should do more to encourage Carbon Farming Initiative projects on suitable Crown land, according to carbon lawyer Martijn Wilder.
Rushing to make new rules on soil carbon or watering down requirements that projects be capable of sequestering carbon for 100 years would result in worthless credits, Climate Change Parliamentary Secretary Mark Dreyfus has warned.