Simpson Carbon Project (Revoked)

The Simpson Carbon Project (Revoked) was a Human-Induced Regeneration (HIR) project located in the remote rangelands of the Paroo Shire in north-west New South Wales. Situated approximately 60km east of the Queensland border town of Hungerford and roughly 100km north-west of Bourke, the project covered a substantial area of 17,707 hectares. The region is characterized by extensive grazing properties used primarily for sheep and cattle, set against a landscape of red earth and ephemeral watercourses typical of the Mulga Lands bioregion.

Registered in July 2015, the project had a notably short active period, being revoked just three months later in October 2015 under Section 32 of the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Act 2011. This section typically allows for revocation at the request of the project proponent, often due to commercial restructuring or land eligibility reassessments. The project was managed by Corporate Carbon Solutions Pty Ltd and aimed to regenerate permanent even-aged native forests, such as Mulga (Acacia aneura) and Bimble Box, by excluding livestock and managing grazing pressure to allow suppressed vegetation to recover.

The environmental setting for the project is semi-arid, with the area receiving low and variable rainfall. The soil composition in this vicinity is dominated by Red Chromosols (red sandy loams) and clay soils found on the floodplains of the nearby Cuttaburra Creek and Paroo River systems. These conditions support hardy native vegetation that, once grazing pressure is reduced, can regenerate from in-situ seed sources and rootstock as per the HIR methodology requirements.