Synergy Reforestation Project

Synergy Reforestation Project is a farm forestry permanent planting project spread across multiple properties in the Western Australian Wheatbelt and Great Southern regions, with significant clusters located 50 to 80km north of Esperance near Grass Patch and Scaddan. It was registered in December 2014 and covers a vast total area of 6,699.87ha.

The Measurement Based Methods for New Farm Forestry Plantations methodology involves establishing new forest plantings on agricultural land. The aim is to achieve permanent carbon sequestration by planting native trees at a density sufficient to reach forest cover, then quantifying the carbon stored over time using physical field measurements combined with modelling tools such as FullCAM.

The regions surrounding Esperance and the broader WA Wheatbelt were previously cleared and are heavily utilised for broadacre cropping and livestock grazing. The environment is characterised by a Mediterranean to semi-arid climate with moderate winter rainfall. Soils in these agricultural zones are typically sandy duplexes and loams.

This project was established as a major emissions offset strategy by the state-owned energy provider, Electricity Generation and Retail Corporation (trading as Synergy), in partnership with the Forest Products Commission. It establishes permanent plantings of native eucalypt species tailored to the region, including Eucalyptus camaldulensis, Eucalyptus cladocalyx, Eucalyptus kochii, Eucalyptus loxophleba, and Eucalyptus polybractea. In June 2017, Synergy was required to relinquish 18,999 ACCUs after requesting the project's permanence period be reduced to 25 years. The project method was later updated in February 2020 from a 2013 reforestation determination to the current measurement-based farm forestry method.