Cotton Panic Carbon Project (Revoked)

The Cotton Panic Carbon Project (Revoked) was a soil carbon sequestration initiative located approximately 4 kilometers southwest of the township of Bombala in the Snowy Monaro region of New South Wales. Registered in October 2017, the project was relatively small in scale, covering just 12.84 hectares. This small size, combined with the proponent, Corporate Carbon Solutions, suggests the site was likely operated as a pilot study or a specific trial paddock intended to test high-intensity management interventions before broader application.

The project operated under the Sequestering Carbon in Soils in Grazing Systems methodology (2014). This method generates Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) by measuring increases in Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) resulting from changes in land management. The project's specific activities focused on "integrated pasture cropping," which involves sowing crops into dormant perennial pastures to maintain year-round ground cover. The unusual project name, "Cotton Panic," is almost certainly a reference to Digitaria brownii (Cotton Panic Grass), a native perennial grass species. This aligns with the project's stated goal of "mixed species selection" and "optimising plant growth," indicating an effort to re-establish or utilize native perennial grasses to build soil carbon resilience.

Environmentally, the Bombala region is situated on the Monaro Tablelands, characterized by a cool temperate climate with an average annual rainfall of approximately 600mm to 700mm. The area is traditionally dominated by sheep and cattle grazing. Soils in this region are variable, often consisting of basalt-derived clays on the undulating plateaus and granite-derived soils in the rugged areas; the project's use of "added soil amendments" suggests an active effort to improve soil chemistry in what may have been naturally limiting conditions.

The project was revoked in August 2024 under section 30 of the Carbon Farming Initiative (CFI) Rule. Section 30 typically refers to a voluntary revocation request by the project proponent. Given the project's small size and the age of the methodology (which has since been superseded by the 2018 and 2021 soil method iterations), it is likely the project concluded its trial phase or was transitioned out of the scheme to reduce ongoing audit and monitoring costs.