Lawrence Carbon Project 8

Lawrence Carbon Project 8 is a soil carbon sequestration project located approximately 6km southwest of the town of Three Springs in the Mid West region of Western Australia. Registered in September 2024, the project covers 145 hectares and is part of a larger aggregation of projects (including Lawrence Carbon Project 1) situated within the Shire of Three Springs. The region is a major agricultural hub known for broadacre cropping, primarily wheat, barley, canola, and lupins, and sheep grazing.

The project operates under the 2021 Soil Carbon methodology (Estimation of Soil Organic Carbon Sequestration using Measurement and Models). This method involves implementing new or materially different land management activities to increase soil organic carbon levels, which are then measured over time to generate Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs). Specific activities for this project include the application of synthetic or non-synthetic fertilizers to address nutrient deficiencies, the use of legume species in cropping or pasture systems, and the introduction of cover crops to improve soil health and vegetation cover.

Environmentally, the Three Springs area is characterized by a semi-arid Mediterranean climate with winter-dominant rainfall, averaging approximately 300mm to 400mm annually. The local terrain typically consists of sandplain soils, such as sandy loams or grey sands over clay and gravel, which are common in Western Australia's Northern Agricultural Region. These soil types often present challenges like non-wetting surfaces or low fertility, which the project's activities, such as building soil carbon and improving biological function, aim to remediate. The proponent, Agriprove Solutions, is a prominent developer in this sector and has highlighted the success of soil carbon projects in Western Australia's low-to-medium rainfall zones (250-280mm), demonstrating that carbon sequestration is viable even in drier cropping environments.