Bonnie Doone Soil Carbon Project

Bonnie Doone Soil Carbon Project is a soil organic carbon project located approximately 30km southwest of Monto in the North Burnett region of Queensland. It was registered in January 2017 and covers 5,274.53 hectares.

Soil organic carbon projects involve sequestering carbon in agricultural soils by altering land management practices. Under the Measurement and Models methodology, this requires conducting rigorous soil baseline testing, often testing down to 1.2 meters, and adopting new practices. For this project, this involves altering the stocking rate, duration, and intensity of grazing to promote soil vegetation cover and improve overall soil health.

The North Burnett region is known for organic beef farming and grazing operations set amongst native forests of eucalyptus and bottle trees. The area experiences a climate historically prone to periods of severe dry weather and drought, with soil profiles capable of significant long-term carbon storage when managed regeneratively.

Notably, Bonnie Doone was the world's first soil carbon project of this scale. Managed by proponents Grant Burnham and Carly Burnham in partnership with Carbon Link, the project successfully sequestered 126,222 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions over a five-year reporting period. This equates to an estimated 50kg of CO2 sequestered for every 1kg of beef produced. In late 2023, the Clean Energy Regulator awarded the project 94,666 Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs), marking the largest allocation for an individual soil carbon farming project in Australia to date.