Orange City Council Environmental Plantings Carbon Project (Revoked)

The Orange City Council Environmental Plantings Carbon Project (Revoked) was a small-scale sequestration initiative located approximately 12 kilometers south-east of the regional city of Orange, New South Wales. Registered in October 2015, the project covered a modest 12.21 hectares of land that had previously been utilized for agriculture for at least five years prior to establishment. The site is situated in the Central Tablelands region, an area renowned for its cool temperate climate and reliable high rainfall, often exceeding 850mm annually. The local environment typically features fertile basalt-derived soils and clay loams, owing to the volcanic history of the nearby Mount Canobolas, which supports diverse land uses ranging from sheep grazing to cool-climate vineyards and orchards.

The project operated under the Reforestation by Environmental or Mallee Plantings-FullCAM methodology. This method involves establishing permanent plantings of mixed native tree and shrub species, such as local eucalypts and acacias, at a density sufficient to achieve forest cover. Carbon abatement for this project type is calculated using the Full Carbon Accounting Model (FullCAM), a software tool that estimates biomass accumulation based on specific site conditions and management activities.

On March 21, 2024, the project was voluntarily revoked under section 30 of the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Rule 2015. While the specific reasons for revocation are not detailed in public notes, voluntary revocation often occurs when a proponent decides the project is no longer commercially viable, or if the land is being transitioned to different management objectives. Notably, the project listed Carbon Farmers of Australia No. 1 Limited as a participant, indicating the council likely engaged specialist aggregators to manage the technical compliance of this pilot-scale offset site.