Gladstone Alternative Fuels Increase Program

Gladstone Alternative Fuels Increase Program is an industrial fuel switching project located at Cement Australia's manufacturing facility in the industrial port area just north of Gladstone in Queensland. It was registered in August 2022, and because it takes place within an existing facility's infrastructure, the exact project area size is undeclared.

The project operates under the Industrial and Commercial Emissions Reduction methodology. This method requires proponents to generate carbon credits by upgrading equipment, improving facility energy efficiency, or switching to lower-emission energy sources to reduce greenhouse gas output compared to historical baseline operations.

The Gladstone area is primarily known as a major coastal hub for heavy industry and port operations, while the broader surrounding region is heavily utilized for cattle grazing, broadacre cropping, and forestry. The local environment experiences a subtropical climate with moderate to high rainfall, averaging around 750 mm annually. Soils in the area generally consist of coastal acid sulfate clays, as well as texture-contrast soils like chromosols and kurosols.

This project aims to significantly reduce Cement Australia's reliance on heavily mined coal by co-processing alternative fuels, such as sustainable wood-based fuel and shredded end-of-life car tyres, inside their high-temperature rotary kilns. Interestingly, this initiative aligns with national decarbonisation efforts and received support via the Australian Government's Powering the Regions Fund. The grant helps establish the new alternative fuel receiving and dosing systems, which will not only cut fossil fuel emissions but also effectively divert thousands of tonnes of regional waste from local landfills.