McNiel Carbon Project

The McNiel Carbon Project is a soil carbon sequestration project located near the rural locality of Upper Burringbar, approximately 20 kilometers southeast of Murwillumbah in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales. Registered in April 2021, the project covers a relatively focused area of roughly 50 hectares. The region is characterized by a humid subtropical climate with high rainfall, supporting lush vegetation and grazing industries. The local terrain typically features volcanic soils, such as Ferrosols or Dermosols, derived from the nearby Mount Warning (Wollumbin) shield volcano, which are generally fertile and conducive to pasture growth.

The project operates under the Estimation of Soil Organic Carbon Sequestration using Measurement and Models (2021) methodology. This method allows proponents to earn Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) by increasing the amount of carbon stored in the soil through changes in land management. Specific activities for this project involve altering the stocking rate, duration, and intensity of grazing to improve vegetation cover and soil health. By optimizing grazing pressure, the project aims to increase biomass and root depth, thereby sequestering atmospheric carbon into the soil profile.

Notably, the project underwent a methodology variation in October 2023, transitioning from the 2018 measurement-based method to the 2021 hybrid method. This shift often allows projects to utilize soil carbon models alongside physical sampling to estimate carbon stocks, potentially reducing the costs associated with frequent deep-soil coring. The project is managed by Agriprove Solutions, a prominent developer in the Australian soil carbon sector known for aggregating smaller agricultural holdings into carbon projects.