CPC Savanna Burning Project (Revoked)

The CPC Savanna Burning Project (Revoked) was a large-scale aggregated carbon abatement initiative located across the Northern Territory, spanning the Victoria River District and the Barkly Tablelands. Registered in October 2015 and covering an immense area of approximately 2.94 million hectares, the project encompassed multiple pastoral leases managed by the Consolidated Pastoral Company (CPC), including major stations such as Newcastle Waters (located near Daly Waters), Auvergne (near the Western Australian border), and Manbulloo (near Katherine). The project area centers generally south and west of Katherine, extending across the breadth of the Territory’s cattle country.

The project operated under the 2015 Savanna Fire Management methodology, which generates carbon credits by reducing the frequency and intensity of late dry season wildfires. By conducting strategic, low-intensity "cool burns" during the early dry season (EDS), land managers reduce the fuel load in the landscape. This creates firebreaks that prevent uncontrollable, high-emission wildfires later in the year when vegetation is driest. The 2015 iteration of this methodology focused specifically on emissions abatement (avoiding the release of methane and nitrous oxide).

Environmentally, the project area is vast enough to straddle both the "high rainfall" (over 1000mm annually) and "low rainfall" (600mm-1000mm) zones, a distinction that is critical for calculating carbon abatement baselines. The terrain transitions from the tropical savannas of the north, characterized by sandy red earths (kandosols) and rugged escarpments, to the semi-arid grasslands of the Barkly region, which is famous for its cracking clay soils (vertosols) and Mitchell grass plains.

A notable aspect of this project is its revocation in March 2018 under Section 30 of the CFI Rule. This section typically pertains to voluntary revocation. The timing coincides with the Australian Government's introduction of the 2018 Savanna Fire Management methodology, which allowed projects to claim carbon sequestration (carbon stored in dead wood and debris) in addition to emissions abatement. It is common for proponents to voluntarily revoke older projects to re-register under newer, more beneficial methods or to restructure large aggregations into individual station-based projects.