JBS Scone Wastewater Biogas Emission Reduction

JBS Scone Wastewater Biogas Emission Reduction is an industrial wastewater treatment project located at the JBS meat processing facility, approximately 4km north of the township of Scone in the Upper Hunter region of New South Wales. Registered in January 2022, the project operates within a region famous as the "Horse Capital of Australia," characterized by intensive thoroughbred breeding, cattle grazing, and agriculture.

This project operates under the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative, Domestic, Commercial and Industrial Wastewater) Methodology Determination 2015. The methodology involves retrofitting existing deep open anaerobic lagoons, which historically released significant amounts of methane into the atmosphere, with covered anaerobic digesters. These gas-tight covers capture the biogas generated during the breakdown of wastewater. The captured gas is then combusted, either via a flaring device or used as a renewable heat source to replace Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) in the facility's boilers, thereby reducing the site's fossil fuel reliance.

The Scone region experiences a transitional climate with a long-term average rainfall of approximately 600mm to 650mm annually. The landscape typically features fertile alluvial loams along the river flats of the Kingdon Ponds and Hunter River catchments, transitioning to heavy clay (vertosols) and basalt-derived soils on the surrounding slopes.

A notable development for this project occurred in March 2025, when the project method was varied to Compilation No. 3. This variation often relates to extending the crediting period (e.g., from 7 to 12 years) for projects helping to bridge the gap as the methodology approached its statutory expiry. JBS Australia developed this infrastructure in partnership with Energy360 as part of a broader $11.1 million investment across their Scone and Beef City sites to support their corporate goal of achieving Net Zero emissions by 2040. The system is estimated to reduce emissions by approximately 23,000 to 28,000 tonnes of CO2-equivalent per year.