Sequestration of Carbon from Soil Carbon QLD1

Sequestration of Carbon from Soil Carbon QLD1 is a soil carbon project located approximately 50km southeast of Townsville in the Burdekin region of Queensland. Registered in June 2025, the project covers 1,839 hectares near the localities of Woodstock and Giru. The region acts as a transition zone between the wet tropical coast and the semi-arid interior, typically characterized as a "Dry Tropics" environment with a distinct summer wet season and dry winters. Land use in the surrounding area is predominantly cattle grazing, with intensive irrigated agriculture (such as sugarcane) present in the nearby Burdekin River delta.

The project operates under the 2021 Soil Carbon methodology, which credits increases in Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) stocks resulting from changes in land management. Specifically, this project aims to boost soil carbon by addressing physical and chemical soil constraints; activities include applying gypsum to remediate sodic or magnesic soils, adding fertilizers to correct nutrient deficiencies, and undertaking new irrigation. Sodic soils, which are common in parts of the Burdekin, are prone to dispersion and poor water infiltration, so the application of gypsum (calcium sulfate) is a critical step to improve soil structure and biomass production.

An interesting feature of this project is its proponent, Rio Tinto Energy Services Pty Ltd. While the mining major is often associated with purchasing offsets as an offtaker, such as its involvement with the Meldora platform in Central Queensland, this project lists Rio Tinto as the direct proponent. This suggests a strategy of directly developing and managing land-based carbon assets to generate Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) for their own emissions reduction targets.