Woodside Pluto Carbon Offset Project - Stage 1

Woodside Pluto Carbon Offset Project - Stage 1 is a permanent mallee planting project with known parcels located in the Parkes local government area, approximately 350km west of Sydney in New South Wales, as well as additional sites across Western Australia. It was registered in June 2013. The exact total area is currently unknown as specific spatial boundaries have been partially suppressed by the Clean Energy Regulator, a measure typically used to protect Aboriginal traditions or threatened ecological communities.

Reforestation by mallee plantings projects involve establishing permanent plantings of native mallee tree species on land that was predominantly used for agricultural purposes for at least five years prior to project commencement. The Carbon Farming Initiative methodology requires these plantings to be established at sufficient stocking densities to achieve forest cover, with carbon sequestration actively modelled and estimated using the FullCAM tool.

The Parkes region in New South Wales and the Western Australian wheatbelt areas where these offset projects typically operate are historically known for broadacre agriculture, including intensive wheat cropping and livestock grazing. These regions generally experience a semi-arid to moderate rainfall climate and feature red-brown earths, sandy loams, and clay soils that are highly suitable for deep-rooted native species like Eucalyptus polybractea (Blue Mallee).

This project was established by Woodside in partnership with CO2 Australia as part of a major commercial emissions offset program initially valued at approximately $100 million. The plantings were uniquely designed to help offset reservoir carbon emissions associated with Woodside's $12 billion Pluto LNG Facility on the Burrup Peninsula in Western Australia. In August 2024, the project transitioned from an older afforestation method to the updated 2014 FullCAM methodology determination. Recently, the project received notable attention in the carbon market due to a record issuance of over 339,000 ACCUs, making it one of the largest issuances for an environmental planting project with suppressed details in the scheme's history.