Big Hill Carbon Project 2025

Big Hill Carbon Project 2025 is a plantation forestry project located in the locality of Big Hill, approximately 40km northeast of Goulburn in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales. Registered in October 2025, the project covers a substantial area of 1,859 hectares within the Upper Lachlan Shire. The region is traditionally utilized for grazing livestock, particularly sheep and cattle, though it supports a growing forestry sector due to its favorable elevation and climate.

The project operates under the Plantation Forestry methodology (2022), which credits the carbon sequestered by establishing new timber plantations intended for commercial harvest. Unlike permanent environmental plantings, this method accounts for the cyclical harvesting of wood products, calculating credits based on the long-term average carbon stocks of the forest. The proponent, The Trust Company Limited (as trustee for ANZLAFF Sub 1), acts on behalf of the Australia New Zealand Landscapes and Forestry Fund (ANZLAFF). Managed by the global investment firm New Forests, this fund targets a "whole landscape" approach, integrating commercial timber production with carbon sequestration, agriculture, and biodiversity outcomes.

Environmental conditions in the Big Hill region are well-suited for forestry operations. The area typically receives moderate to high rainfall, averaging approximately 780mm annually. The local terrain, part of the Great Dividing Range's western slopes, generally features texture-contrast soils such as Chromosols and Dermosols (loams over clay), which provide the necessary depth and water-holding capacity to support plantation establishment.