Orica Kooragang Island Decarbonisation Project

Orica Kooragang Island Decarbonisation Project is an industrial process emissions reduction project located on Kooragang Island, approximately 5 kilometres northwest of the Newcastle CBD in New South Wales. It was registered in March 2021 and covers the footprint of Orica's existing major hazard manufacturing facility. The Kooragang Island area is an established industrial and port precinct, dominated by manufacturing operations, deep-water port facilities, and surrounding estuarine wetlands. The coastal Newcastle region generally experiences moderate to high rainfall, and while the natural environment is composed of estuarine clay and sandy alluvial soils, the project site itself has been heavily modified to support large-scale industrial land use.

The project operates under the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative-Facilities) Methodology Determination 2015. This methodology allows industrial facilities that report under the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting (NGER) Scheme to earn Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) by permanently reducing their emissions intensity. Standard requirements under this method involve implementing new manufacturing processes or installing new equipment to continuously measure and demonstrate genuine emission reductions against historical facility baselines.

This specific project was designed to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions by installing an Australian-first "tertiary catalyst abatement technology" across three nitric acid plants at the facility. This advanced equipment breaks down nitrous oxide, a potent greenhouse gas 265 times stronger than carbon dioxide, resulting in the elimination of up to 1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2-e) per year, or roughly a 45% reduction in the site's total emissions. The site primarily produces ammonia and ammonium nitrate, which are critical inputs for the mining and agricultural sectors.

In addition to the generation of ACCUs, Orica was awarded top honours at the 2024 AFR Sustainability Leaders awards for this initiative, which was delivered in partnership with UGL and supported by a $13 million co-investment from the NSW Government and $25 million from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation. Furthermore, the Kooragang Island site is now the focal point for the developing Hunter Valley Hydrogen Hub, an ambitious project featuring a 50 MW electrolyser aimed at progressively replacing natural gas feedstock with renewable hydrogen.