Southern Cross Yilgarn South Carbon Project

The Southern Cross Yilgarn South Carbon Project is a plantation forestry project located approximately 15 kilometers south-west of the town of Southern Cross in the Shire of Yilgarn, Western Australia. Registered in October 2025, the project spans a significant area of 6,484 hectares within the eastern Wheatbelt region. This area is traditionally characterized by broadacre cropping (wheat and barley), sheep grazing, and extensive mining operations, situated on the ancient geological formation known as the Yilgarn Craton.

The project operates under the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative, Plantation Forestry) Methodology Determination 2022. Unlike environmental plantings designed solely for conservation, this methodology supports the establishment of new plantation forests for the commercial harvesting of wood products. In this specific instance, the project proponents, Growth Carbon and Outback Carbon (a subsidiary of Mitsui E&P Australia), have designed an agroforestry model. This involves planting native hardwood species, specifically Eucalyptus salubris (Gimlet) and Eucalyptus salmonophloia (Salmon Gum), integrated with ongoing agricultural land use, allowing for potential future timber harvest while sequestering carbon.

The local environment is classified as semi-arid, with an average annual rainfall of approximately 300-350mm. The terrain typically consists of gently undulating sandplains and lateritic breakaways. Soils in the region are predominantly red earths, sandy loams, and ironstone gravels, which are well-suited to the native eucalypt species selected for the plantation. A notable feature of this project is its focus on "agro-forestry," aiming for a canopy cover that supports biodiversity and carbon sequestration without completely displacing agricultural activities such as grazing.