Charon Point Carbon Project

Charon Point Carbon Project is an agricultural soil carbon project located near Baralaba, roughly 100km south of Rockhampton in Central Queensland. It was registered in April 2015 and covers an area of 1996.38 hectares, having undergone several project area variations since its inception.

The project follows the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative-Estimation of Soil Organic Carbon Sequestration using Measurement and Models) Methodology Determination 2021. This agricultural methodology involves changing active land management practices to build and store organic carbon within the soil. To achieve this, the proponents are altering the stocking rate, duration, and intensity of cattle grazing to promote vegetation cover and improve overall soil health. They are additionally re-establishing pastures through targeted seeding and addressing land deficiencies by applying synthetic and non-synthetic fertilisers.

The Baralaba and broader Banana Shire area is well known for coal mining, mixed cropping, and beef cattle grazing. The region typically experiences a semi-arid to sub-tropical climate with summer-dominant rainfall averaging between 670mm and 800mm annually. Soils in this agricultural zone are predominantly highly fertile Vertosols (cracking clays) that possess large water-holding capacities, making them prized for both grazing and crop production.

Interestingly, since its commencement, the project has updated its methodology twice to align with newer soil carbon standards, migrating from the 2014 determination to the 2018 version, and finally to the 2021 rules. The proponent, Coolum Pastoral Pty Ltd, successfully runs backgrounder cattle operations in the Baralaba region, actively utilising rotational grazing on native and improved pastures, a commercial practice that directly aligns with the project's goals of building soil carbon through managed grazing intensity.