CO2 Australia Creating a Better Climate Project

CO2 Australia Creating a Better Climate Project is a significant sequestration initiative located across a broad expanse of the Central West and Riverina regions of New South Wales. Registered in March 2014, the project operates across multiple local government areas including Bland, Carrathool, Dubbo, Narromine, and Parkes. The project sites are situated in the heart of the "wheat-sheep belt," a region heavily utilized for dryland cropping and grazing, typically characterized by semi-arid conditions with rainfall averaging between 450mm and 550mm annually. The soils in this area are predominantly red earths and chromosols, which are well-suited to the native vegetation established by the project.

The project utilizes the "Reforestation by Environmental or Mallee Plantings" methodology, specifically modeling carbon stocks using the FullCAM software. Unlike standard reforestation that often focuses on single-stemmed timber species, this project specializes in "Mallee" plantings, distinctive multi-stemmed eucalypts that are highly drought-tolerant. The primary species planted are Eucalyptus loxophleba (York Gum) and Eucalyptus polybractea (Blue Mallee). These species are historically significant in Australia not just for carbon sequestration and biodiversity, but also for their potential use in eucalyptus oil production, although this project is focused on permanent carbon storage.

A key feature of this project is its corporate history, which reflects the evolution of the Australian carbon market. It was originally registered as the "Green State Power Forest Sequestration Project," established to offset emissions for NSW state-owned electricity generators (linked to Delta Electricity). In 2016, the project was transferred to Carbon Estate Pty Ltd. The project successfully held a fixed delivery contract (CAC304660) with the Australian Government for 47,000 Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs), which was completed in December 2021. Since fulfilling this government obligation, the project has supplied credits to the voluntary market; notably, Charles Sturt University has purchased ACCUs from this project to meet its Climate Active carbon neutral certification requirements.