FIT 2020 Carbon Projects ERF

FIT 2020 Carbon Projects ERF is a plantation forestry project located across the Glenelg and West Wimmera Shires in western Victoria, near towns such as Edenhope and Casterton towards the South Australian border. It was registered in March 2020 and covers an initial area of 3,619.44 ha.

Plantation forestry projects involve generating carbon credits by establishing new plantation forests or converting an existing short-rotation plantation to a long-rotation forest. By increasing the time trees remain in the ground before harvesting, or by transitioning the land to a permanent forest, more carbon is sequestered in the forest biomass. This specific project carries out both the conversion to a long-term rotation and the establishment of new plantations for the commercial harvesting of wood products.

The West Wimmera and Glenelg area is historically known for sheep grazing and broadacre cropping, though it has increasingly become a major hub for commercial timber operations as part of the highly productive "Green Triangle" region. The region experiences a temperate climate that ranges from higher rainfall in the southern Glenelg area to more semi-arid, drier conditions moving north into the Wimmera. Soils vary from ancient sandy dune systems with heavy clay swales to more fertile alluvial and volcanic soils further south.

The project proponent, The Trust Company (Australia) Limited as trustee for Forestry Investment Trust (FIT), is part of an investment vehicle managed by New Forests. The Forestry Investment Trust is an iconic large-scale hardwood and softwood estate spanning over 110,000 hectares across Australia. Since its original registration, this specific carbon project has continued to expand, undergoing two official variations to add additional land areas in February 2021 and May 2022.