Charon Point Carbon Project

Charon Point Carbon Project is a soil carbon sequestration project located in the Banana local government area of Central Queensland, approximately 50km northwest of the town of Banana and 120km southwest of Rockhampton. It was registered in April 2015 and currently covers 1996.38 hectares.

The project operates under the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative, Estimation of Soil Organic Carbon Sequestration using Measurement and Models) Methodology Determination 2021. This methodology allows agricultural land managers to earn Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) by storing carbon in agricultural soils. Earning these credits requires measuring baseline soil carbon levels and implementing new or materially different management activities to build soil organic carbon, which is subsequently tracked through rigorous measurement and modeling.

The Banana Shire and the broader Dawson Valley region are highly regarded for cattle grazing, broadacre cropping, and agricultural production on fertile, black-soil plains. The climate is typically semi-arid to sub-humid, with the area receiving roughly 680mm to 700mm of rainfall annually.

To achieve its soil carbon goals, the Charon Point project has introduced several new land management practices. These include altering the stocking rate, duration, and intensity of grazing to promote soil vegetation cover and improve overall soil health. The project also addresses material deficiencies by applying synthetic or non-synthetic fertilizers and rejuvenating pastures via seeding and pasture cropping.

The project has an interesting administrative history, having transitioned through three generations of soil carbon methodologies (moving from the 2014 method to the 2018 method, and finally the 2021 method). Initially contracted in April 2015, the project was later removed from its original Carbon Abatement Contract (CAC614503) due to a variation in 2019. The project area has seen multiple amendments over the years, most recently a reduction in June 2026. The project is jointly run by proponents Coolum Pastoral Pty Ltd (a cattle grazing enterprise based in Baralaba) and Corporate Carbon Solutions Pty Ltd, with Carbon Link Operations Pty Ltd acting as the project agent.