Opportunities for the land sector

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Up to $5000 advance to support Soil Method baseline sampling costs for soil carbon projects

An advance payment worth up to $5,000 is available through a pilot program for eligible Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF) projects to help with upfront costs of soil sampling.

Key Features

Advance payment for Australian carbon credit units (ACCUs) to assist with meeting the costs of required baseline soil sampling.
ACCUs, subject to the advance payment, must be provided within five (5) years.
One advance payment per eligible project.
Available to projects under the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative – Measurement of Soil Carbon Sequestration in Agricultural Systems) Methodology Determination 2018 and the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative - Estimation of Soil Organic Carbon Sequestration using Measurement and Models) Methodology Determination 2021.
For new baseline soil sampling only.
Data from soil sampling will need to be provided to the Commonwealth to help inform method development.
Project must be connected to a relevant Commonwealth contract.
Contract holder will receive the payment

where the landholder is not the contract holder arrangements will need to be agreed between these parties.

See more information on the advance to support soil method baseline sampling.

There are a number of opportunities for the land sector to participate in the Emissions Reduction Fund by either storing carbon or avoiding emissions from agricultural activities.

Sequestration projects generate abatement by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and storing it as carbon in plants as they grow. Examples of sequestration activities could include:

reforestation
revegetation
restoring rangelands
protecting native forest or vegetation that is at imminent risk of clearing.

Not sure which sequestration methodology is right for your situation?

Use the documentasset:Sequestration decision tree to help you make the right choice.

View our sequestration and vegetation modules to understand what's involved in these types of projects.

Not sure how much carbon abatement you could achieve?

Ask LOOC-C.

LOOC-C is the Landscape Options and Opportunities for Carbon abatement Calculator (LOOC-C) developed by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). It allows you to quickly assess what Emissions Reduction Fund might be right for your land and provides you with estimates of what carbon increases are possible based on project size, land condition, and method.

Methods available through LOOC-C:

Measurement of soil carbon sequestration
Estimating sequestration of carbon in soil using default values method (model-based soil carbon)
Beef cattle herd management
Reforestation by environmental or mallee plantings - FullCAM
Human-induced regeneration of a permanent even-aged native forest
Native forest from managed regrowth
Avoided clearing of native regrowth.

More information

To assess options for an Emissions Reduction Fund project on your land visit LOOC-C, or you can contact CSIRO for more information on the calculator.

Note that estimates provided through LOOC-C are for illustrative purposes only and may differ from actual project outcomes. Use of LOOC-C does not guarantee that your project will be eligible for registration under the Emissions Reduction Fund - your project will need to satisfy the requirements of the CFI Act to be registered. See planning a project for more information.