CPC Savanna Burning Project (Revoked)

CPC Savanna Burning Project (Revoked) is a savanna fire management project located at a vast region roughly 40km south of Katherine in the Northern Territory, stretching across the Barkly, Victoria Daly, and Wyndham-East Kimberley local government areas. It was registered in October 2015 and covers 2,939,928.83 ha.

Savanna fire management projects involve strategic and planned early dry-season fire management. This early intervention reduces available fuel loads, which helps prevent the risk of much larger, high-intensity late dry-season wildfires, thereby avoiding significant greenhouse gas emissions.

The Katherine and wider Victoria River District region is highly regarded for extensive pastoral operations and beef cattle grazing. The project area spans both the monsoonal high and semi-arid low rainfall zones of Northern Australia, where soils generally consist of sandy loams, red earths, and cracking clays.

The project was initially spearheaded by Consolidated Pastoral Company (CPC), one of Australia's largest beef producers, in partnership with Corporate Carbon Solutions and South Pole Australia. The project was officially revoked in March 2018 under section 30 of the CFI Rule. According to a parliamentary submission, CPC faced major administrative and financial hurdles regarding native title consent. The company noted that the regulatory process of obtaining consent from multiple clan groups across such a massive land area was estimated to cost over $100,000 and take 12 to 18 months, which acted as an unviable impediment for a project that had only generated enough Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) to break even.