Woodside Pluto Carbon Offset Project - Stage 1

Woodside Pluto Carbon Offset Project - Stage 1 is a mallee planting project primarily located in the Parkes local government area of New South Wales, with additional operations extending into Western Australia. Registered in June 2013, the project was established as a direct offset mechanism for the reservoir carbon dioxide emissions associated with Woodside’s Pluto LNG facility in Western Australia. While the exact total project area is withheld due to commercial suppression, the project operates across multiple land titles previously used for agriculture.

The project involves the permanent planting of Eucalyptus polybractea (Blue Mallee), a species renowned for its drought tolerance and high carbon sequestration rates in semi-arid environments. The methodology, Reforestation by Environmental or Mallee Plantings, requires planting densities sufficient to achieve forest cover, typically transforming marginal cropping or grazing land back into woodland. In August 2024, the project underwent a variation to update its methodology from the 2013 standard to the 2014 FullCAM compilation, ensuring alignment with current carbon accounting models.

Regionally, the Parkes area in Central West NSW is characterized by a warm temperate to semi-arid climate with an average annual rainfall of approximately 600mm. The landscape is dominated by dryland cropping (wheat, canola) and livestock grazing (sheep, cattle). Soils in this region are typically red earths and clay loams, which are well-suited to the deep-rooting nature of mallee eucalypts. This specific project is a critical component of Woodside's obligations under Western Australian Ministerial Statement 757, which requires the company to offset reservoir emissions from the Pluto LNG Train 1.