CO2 Australia - Human-Induced Regeneration Project - Stage 1 (Revoked)

CO2 Australia - Human-Induced Regeneration Project - Stage 1 (Revoked) is a human-induced regeneration project located in the Shire of Balonne, approximately 60km north-west of St George in Queensland. It was registered in March 2017 and originally covered 8,265.98 hectares.

Human-Induced Regeneration (HIR) projects involve establishing permanent, even-aged native forests through assisted regeneration from in-situ seed sources, rootstock, and lignotubers. To meet standard methodology requirements, project activities must implement new land management practices, in this case, the exclusion of livestock, on land where vegetation was previously cleared and regrowth suppressed for at least 10 years.

The St George region is heavily agricultural and is well known for sheep and cattle grazing as well as cotton cropping operations. The environment is considered semi-arid with moderate annual rainfall averaging around 516mm. Soils in the region generally consist of alluvial clays near river plains and sandy loams across the broader grazing lands.

Interestingly, this project underwent several significant changes and was ultimately unsuccessful. While initially operated by CO2 Australia Limited, the proponent changed to Ian Arnold Nicholson in May 2018, alongside an amendment to the project area boundaries. The project successfully secured a fixed-delivery carbon abatement contract (CAC484370) in April 2017 for the delivery of 51,096 Australian Carbon Credit Units. However, this contract eventually lapsed and was terminated without any credits being delivered to the Commonwealth. The project was formally revoked under section 30 of the CFI Rule on 16 April 2021.