Mountain View Carbon Project

Mountain View Carbon Project is a soil carbon sequestration project located in the Upper Murray region of Victoria, approximately 10 kilometers west of the township of Corryong. Registered in December 2020, the project encompasses a project area of roughly 129 hectares within the Towong Shire. The property is situated in a high-rainfall zone typical of the Victorian alpine valleys, where annual precipitation often exceeds 700mm, supporting productive grazing on soils that generally consist of sandy to clay loams.

The project operates under the 2021 Soil Carbon methodology (Estimation of Soil Organic Carbon Sequestration using Measurement and Models). This framework rewards landholders for increasing soil organic carbon stocks through improved management practices. Specifically, the Mountain View project has implemented changes such as altering grazing intensity to improve ground cover and rejuvenating pastures by transitioning from monoculture annual rye to diverse multi-species fodder crops. These activities aim to build soil resilience and sequester carbon, which is then verified through a hybrid system of physical soil sampling and computer modelling.

A notable success story for the sector, the project recently achieved its first issuance of Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) in late 2024. Data from the proponent, AgriProve, highlights that the project’s landholder, Justin Costello, successfully increased stocking rates by 26% while simultaneously improving soil health. In June 2023, the project formally varied its methodology from the 2018 determination to the 2021 version, a move often made to leverage more flexible measurement protocols and modelling capabilities.