The Emissions Abatement through Savanna Fire Management (2015) method has an ‘in lieu’ provision for meeting the regulatory additionality requirements of the Emissions Reduction Fund when used to run projects in a national park.

Regulatory additionality requirements are set out in section 27(4A)(b) of the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Act 2011. They state that a project is either:

  • not required to be carried out by or under a law of the Commonwealth, a State or a Territory; or
  • the method that covers the project specifies one or more requirements that are ‘in lieu’ of the regulatory additionality requirement.

To meet the ‘in lieu’ requirement of the Savanna Fire Management method, the area on which the project is run must not include land where fire management, for the primary purpose of reducing emissions from fire, is required by or under a law of the Commonwealth, a State or a Territory.

This means land on which fire management occurs for other purposes is eligible to participate in the scheme. As an example, land on which activities such as prescribed burns to create firebreaks and reduce fuel loads would meet the ‘in lieu’ provision.