CO2 Australia - Human-Induced Regeneration Project - Stage 3 (Revoked)

CO2 Australia - Human-Induced Regeneration Project - Stage 3 (Revoked) is a Human-Induced Regeneration project located approximately 7km northwest of Tullamore in central-western New South Wales. It was registered in March 2017 and covers a small project area of 2.18 hectares.

Human-Induced Regeneration (HIR) projects are designed to establish permanent, even-aged native forests through natural, assisted regeneration rather than direct planting. The methodology requires changing land management practices on land where native vegetation was previously comprehensively cleared and subsequently suppressed for at least 10 years. By removing these suppressive pressures, native trees and shrubs are able to regenerate from in-situ seed sources, rootstock, and lignotubers. For this specific project, the core activity was the complete exclusion of livestock to allow the local vegetation to recover unhindered.

The regional landscape surrounding Tullamore is widely known for agricultural mixed farming. Land use is predominantly split between sheep and cattle grazing and broadacre cropping, notably wheat, barley, and lucerne. The environment experiences a semi-arid to sub-humid climate with an average annual rainfall between 470mm and 500mm. The local topography consists of flat to gently undulating plains, supported by soils that are primarily a mix of red loams, ironstone ridges, and self-mulching grey clays.

The project has an interesting administrative history. In December 2017, the proponent secured a fixed-delivery carbon abatement contract (CAC286949), committing to supply 495,000 ACCUs to the Commonwealth over a 10-year delivery period. However, zero abatement was ultimately sold under this agreement, and the contract lapsed or was terminated in November 2020. The project itself was subsequently revoked under section 30 of the Carbon Farming Initiative (CFI) Rule on March 19, 2021. Most recently, a variation in the proponent's corporate registration took place in December 2024, updating the entity's name from CO2 AUSTRALIA LIMITED to CO2 AUSTRALIA Pty Ltd.