Woodside Native Reforestation Project - Phase 4

Woodside Native Reforestation Project - Phase 4 is a large-scale environmental planting project located in the Midwest region of Western Australia. The project spans multiple properties, with locations anchored around the Shire of Coorow and extending inland toward the Shire of Dalwallinu, approximately 260km north of Perth. Registered in May 2023, the project covers 4,873 hectares of land that was previously dedicated to dryland agriculture. The surrounding region is a major hub for broadacre cropping, producing wheat, canola, and lupins, as well as sheep grazing.

The project operates under the Reforestation by Environmental or Mallee Plantings (FullCAM) methodology. This involves establishing permanent plantings of mixed native tree and shrub species on land that has been clear of forest cover for at least five years. To generate Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs), the planting must be managed to achieve "forest cover," defined as trees reaching a height of at least two meters with a crown cover of over 20%. Carbon abatement is modeled using the Full Carbon Accounting Model (FullCAM) rather than direct field measurement.

The local environment is characterized by a semi-arid to Mediterranean climate, receiving typical annual rainfall between 350mm and 450mm, mostly during the winter months. The soil composition in this part of the WA Wheatbelt is ancient and nutrient-poor, consisting largely of sandy loams, sandplains, and duplex soils (sand over clay). These soil types are prone to wind erosion and salinity when cleared, making revegetation highly beneficial for land restoration.

A notable aspect of this project is its proponent, Woodside Energy, which develops these assets to offset its own corporate emissions (Scope 1 and 2). Woodside typically utilizes a model where they acquire land, revegetate the less productive or degraded sandy soils for carbon credits, and lease the productive arable land back to local farmers for continued cropping. The project has undergone administrative variations in mid-to-late 2025 to remove specific areas from the project boundary, a common practice to refine the carbon estimation area by excluding roads, infrastructure, or non-compliant vegetation.