2025 WA Schedule 3 Carbon Project

2025 WA Schedule 3 Carbon Project is a plantation forestry project located near Mount Barker and Rocky Gully in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, approximately 50 to 115km north and north-west of Albany. It was registered in February 2025 and covers an area of 3545.09 ha.

Plantation forestry projects allow proponents to earn carbon credits by establishing, transitioning, or maintaining commercial plantation forests. Under the specific Schedule 3 rules used by this project, the activity involves avoiding the conversion of an existing or recently harvested plantation forest to non-forested land. Standard requirements for this schedule mandate an independent financial assessment to prove that, without the carbon scheme, clearing the forest to use the land for agricultural purposes would have been more financially attractive than replanting. Proponents are subsequently required to continue the plantation rotation cycle rather than clearing the land.

The Great Southern region's land use is predominantly a mix of broadacre agriculture, such as sheep grazing and winter cropping, alongside commercial hardwood timber operations like Tasmanian Blue Gum plantations. The area experiences a Mediterranean climate classified by reliable, moderate to high winter-dominant rainfall (typically 500-800mm annually). The soils across these sites are generally characterised by deep loams, lateritic gravels, and sandy duplex soils over clay.

This project sequesters carbon by continuing the plantation cycle and preventing the emissions associated with land clearing. Interestingly, the project proponent, The Trust Company (Australia) Limited acting as trustee for the Forestry Investment Trust, holds the land on behalf of a major timberland portfolio managed by the global forestry asset manager New Forests. In July 2025, a variation was approved to add further land areas to the project footprint.