Charon Point Carbon Project

Charon Point Carbon Project is an agricultural soil carbon project located near Baralaba, approximately 45km north-west of Moura in the Banana Shire of Central Queensland. It was registered in April 2015 and covers an expansive 6,409.48 hectares.

The project operates under the Estimation of Soil Organic Carbon Sequestration using Measurement and Models methodology. Soil carbon projects require landholders to implement new or materially altered management practices to build and permanently store carbon in agricultural soils. For this specific project, the abatement activities include altering the stocking rate, duration, and intensity of grazing to promote vegetation cover and improve overall soil health. It also involves addressing material soil deficiencies by applying synthetic or non-synthetic fertilisers, and rejuvenating pastures through seeding or pasture cropping.

The Banana Shire region is a major agricultural hub recognized primarily for commercial beef cattle production, dryland grain cropping, and coal mining operations. The local environment features a sub-tropical to semi-arid climate characterized by summer-dominant rainfall that averages around 670 to 700mm annually. The landscape consists of the Dawson River floodplain and gently undulating rises, with soil profiles largely dominated by highly fertile Vertosols (cracking clays) and texture-contrast soils such as Chromosols.

Coolum Pastoral Pty Ltd, the project proponent, is run by the Maclean family, who have operated a commercial beef enterprise in the region for decades. They utilize intensive cell grazing operations to manage their breeder herds, rotating them on strict rest periods across river flats to recover pastures. The carbon project is supported by agent Carbon Link Operations Pty Ltd, one of Australia's leading soil carbon project developers. Over its life, the project has evolved alongside the ACCU scheme's regulatory framework, undergoing variations to transition its methodology from the initial 2014 determination to the 2018 version, and ultimately to the current 2021 measurement and models methodology.