Norman River Carbon Project (Revoked)

Norman River Carbon Project (Revoked) was a soil carbon project located in the Central Highlands region of Queensland, approximately 100km southwest of Springsure. It was registered in April 2015 and originally covered an area of 16,275.60ha.

Sequestering Carbon in Soils in Grazing Systems projects involve altering agricultural practices to increase the amount of carbon stored in the soil. Standard requirements include managing and adjusting stocking densities, strictly timing grazing duration, and actively rejuvenating pastures to encourage deeper, more robust root systems that actively build soil organic carbon.

The Central Highlands area is well known for its extensive beef cattle grazing and broadacre cropping. The region typically experiences a semi-arid to sub-tropical climate with summer-dominant rainfall. The local environment features soils that are generally characterised by fertile, cracking clays (vertosols) interspersed with patches of sandy loam.

This project was established by Corporate Carbon Solutions Pty Ltd to increase soil carbon by rejuvenating local pastures and introducing changed grazing patterns. In July 2018, the project area underwent a variation to remove certain listed areas. Interestingly, despite the proponent securing a substantial Carbon Abatement Contract (CAC102378) with a fixed delivery obligation of 2,225,000 Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs), only 33,094 units were successfully delivered. The project was officially voluntarily revoked in November 2023 under Section 30 of the CFI Rule.