Greening Australia and Canopy Nature Based Solutions National Reforestation Program 2023

Greening Australia and Canopy Nature Based Solutions National Reforestation Program 2023 is a permanent environmental planting project distributed nationally across multiple sites in New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria, and Western Australia. Registered in March 2023, the project initially covered a broad area of 3,326.37 hectares across various agricultural properties. Key locations include sites near Gunning (roughly 60km north of Canberra in NSW), Sale (in Victoria's Gippsland region), and Katanning (in Western Australia's Wheatbelt). Due to project amendments, the registered area has undergone several variations with land areas being removed in May 2024, December 2024, and most recently in May 2026.

Environmental planting projects involve establishing permanent, mixed native tree species on land that was predominantly used for agricultural purposes for at least five years prior to project commencement. To generate Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) under the Full Carbon Accounting Model (FullCAM), the standard methodology rules typically require a minimum planting density of at least 200 stems per hectare.

Because this is a national aggregate project, the environmental conditions and land uses vary significantly across its coordinates. Regions like the Southern Tablelands in NSW and Gippsland in Victoria are heavily utilized for livestock grazing (sheep and cattle); these areas experience moderate to high rainfall and predominantly feature clay and loam soils. In contrast, the sites in Western Australia's Wheatbelt and South Australia's Eyre Peninsula are characterized by broadacre cropping and grazing in semi-arid, Mediterranean climates with sandy loam and calcareous soils.

This project was established by Canopy Nature Based Solutions, a for-purpose environmental markets business operating under Greening Australia. Beyond carbon sequestration, these plantings are designed to restore wildlife habitat for threatened woodland species, improve regional biodiversity, and provide beneficial shade and shelter for the landholders' farming operations. As a signatory to the voluntary Australia Carbon Industry Code of Conduct, Canopy develops these programs in partnership with landholders to offer alternative income streams without compromising primary agricultural activities. Notably, while the standard FullCAM model calibration assumes 200 stems per hectare, Canopy frequently exceeds this baseline to recreate natural vegetation communities, with some of their projects planted at over 3,000 stems per hectare to ensure high-integrity, biodiverse outcomes.