Research has shown that healthy soil can absorb almost twice as much C02 as plants and the atmosphere combined, making it a central player in the fight against climate change. In fact, scientists estimate that we could be storing another 1 to 3 billion tonnes of carbon in global soils per year. And the opportunity for improvement to soils here in Australia is significant.

Soil is, in many ways, a non-renewable resource. It can take up to a thousand years to create just one millimetre of soil. Which makes it all the more important to start protecting its impact today – which many Australian land managers are doing via the carbon market.

Take James Henderson as an example, a beef cattle farmer in Central Queensland. After the devastating 2006 drought, James knew he needed to find new ways to manage his land. He investigated carbon farming, and in partnership with GreenCollar, embarked on a regenerative land management program that paid him to do two main things: stop clearing native trees, and implement rotational grazing.

Less than five years later, James’ soil is now much healthier. It retains more water, and is more resilient during the dry summer months. The extra vegetation has created more shade too, stabilising temperatures and keeping his grasses greener for longer. As a result, James has been able to extend his growing season by about a month either side of summer. And under Australia’s Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF), he has already generated over 54,000 ACCUs – not bad for a single property.

Across the rest of the country, Australian land managers are no stranger to erosion, acidification, compaction, salination and drought. By switching to more sustainable farming methods – like the ones used in carbon farming – it’s possible to improve soil health while bringing back the biodiversity and carbon-storage capacity the planet needs. And the practice can unlock productivity benefits for your farm too. For example, increasing soil carbon has shown to reduce the need for fertilisers by up to 7%

And you don’t have to be a soil scientist to make a difference. Simple methodologies can have a massive impact – including practices like preserving native vegetation, adopting rotational grazing and regenerating natural filtration systems. With the help of a carbon farming specialist like GreenCollar, you can implement the kinds of activities applicable to your specific land and operations with minimal fuss – and maximum benefit.

Of course, saving the planet remains the bigger picture. But as James’ example demonstrates, carbon farming isn’t just good for the environment – it’s good for economics, too. By focusing on your soil’s health, you can invest in the planet and your farm, boosting your productivity while enhancing your soils’ water- and carbon-holding capacities.

Find out more about carbon farming .

The post Improving soil (and the planet) with carbon farming appeared first on GreenCollar.

The post Three simple carbon practices revolutionising sustainable agriculture  appeared first on GreenCollar.

What are Plastic Credits? 

A Plastic Credit is an auditable unit of plastic reduction: ie. a measurable amount of plastic either collected from the environment, or recycled into a new product.

Plastic Credits can be purchased by companies who have exhausted all other avenues for reducing their plastic use (for example, by switching to more sustainable packaging) to mitigate the final portion of their plastic footprint. Businesses looking to remove plastic waste from the environment at scale can also earn and sell Plastic Credits on the plastic offsets market.

Play Video

How are Plastic Credits measured? 

For businesses seeking to buy Plastic Credits, the volume of Credits purchased is based on the size of the company’s plastic footprint. These companies can achieve their plastic reduction targets by calculating their plastic footprint, reducing that footprint and purchasing a weight of Plastic Credits (measured in tonnes) equivalent to the weight of plastic they are unable to directly reduce.

While Plastic Credits are measured by weight, they are further distinguished into ‘collection’ and ‘recycling’ units based on the method of plastic waste removal.

Collection represents the environmental service of recovering one tonne of waste from the environment and directing it to an appropriate final destination such as secure landfill, mechanical or chemical recycling, or energy recovery. Recycling represents the environmental service of converting that tonne of plastic into a useful new product.

The number of Plastic Credits issued is based on how much plastic has been collected or recycled above the amount that would have been collected or recycled had the project not taken place. (Which is to say, Verra only counts how much plastic has been reduced or removed above what’s known as the “baseline rate”. Businesses can’t claim credit for reduction that would have happened anyway).

What is the new Plastic Waste Reduction Standard?

The Plastic Waste Reduction Standard is the market mechanism established to incentivise this offsetting and increase plastic collection and recycling globally. (It also sets out the rules and requirements a project needs to follow in order to be certified.)

Plastic Credits form a new ‘currency’ for what is well-known as the 3R Initiative. The 3Rs represent the goals of the enterprise – to Reduce, Recover and Recycle plastics worldwide through a crediting scheme and regulated corporate targets.

Developed by Verra and fellow non-profit BVRio – with the backing of major food packaging companies including Danone, Tetra Pak and Nestle – the Standard enables companies to measure their waste recovery efforts and monitor their plastic footprint through a streamlined, quantifiable and widely-recognised global standard. It’s a welcome initiative that provides a framework to validate, credit and finance waste recycling and recovery projects that tackle this pervasive environmental problem head-on.

Click here to learn more about GreenCollar’s part in this ground-breaking new initiative or click here to register interest in purchasing these Australian-first credits.

The post What are Plastic Credits and how are they generated? appeared first on GreenCollar.

Integrated carbon farming methods might sound like a mouthful. But the concept is actually (relatively) simple. Until now, land managers looking to participate in the Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF) have mostly been forced into a ‘one property, one activity, one method’ approach to carbon abatement. This encouraged them to apply a single carbon abatement method – say, Avoided Deforestation – to their land, for which they received Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs). Technically, there was nothing to stop them from applying other carbon farming methods to their property. But there were no incentives, either. In fact, there were multiple disincentives.

Take a grazier running a Soil Carbon method on a standard 600-hectare farm. Over the course of the project’s 25-year life, that grazier would need to generate 269 monthly reports for a return of around 25,000 ACCUs. If that same grazier added an additional method – say, Beef Herding – they’d double their reporting requirements, but only pocket an extra 12% in ACCUs. Hardly bang for their buck.

As a result, there has been no real impetus for land managers to maximise their environmental practices and realise the true carbon potential of their land. The status quo encourages managers to participate in the abatement method with the highest return, and ignore the others. (Or pursue them at their own cost.)

But now, change is on the horizon. In August of this year, the ​​Carbon Market Institute’s Landscape Taskforce (co-chaired by Dr Jenny Sinclair, GreenCollar’s Chief Scientist) submitted an Integrated Farm method to the Federal Government. Developed in consultation with agricultural, technology, financial, and conservation organisations, the blueprint detailed the benefits of integrated carbon farming methods to both land managers and the carbon market.

Put simply, the Integrated Farm method will allow land managers to employ multiple carbon abatement methods across a single property, making the most of its carbon farming potential while keeping the administrative burden to a minimum. (ie. No matter how many methods you use, you’d only ever have to fill out one batch of paperwork. But the extra credits will be all yours.) This practice, also known as ‘method stacking’, would enable more land managers and Traditional Owners to participate in the carbon market, and increase the environmental, social and economic outcomes of each property.

On October 1, 2021, the Australian Government announced its support for formally developing method stacking as part of a suite of new priorities to be developed by the Clean Energy Regulator over the next 12 months. The method is expected to be implemented in 2023.

The announcement heralds a new era in the Australian carbon market. It will also let ACCUs more accurately reflect what’s already happening on the ground, granting carbon credits where carbon credits are due – namely, for every carbon abatement method used, not just the first one you happened to register for.

Along with the government’s other suite of changes, which include savanna fire management and carbon capture use and storage, method stacking will enable more land managers and Traditional Owners to adopt more and more carbon farming methods, further shifting us towards net zero while delivering a significant boost to carbon credit supply for the market.

The post Method stacking is coming. Here’s what it means for your business appeared first on GreenCollar.

In fact, many high-quality carbon farming projects like the ones GreenCollar helps implement are explicitly designed to optimise the productivity and profitability of your current land management operations. With advancements in our understanding of climate and improved oversight over the quality of the carbon market, the methodologies we have available are now inherently good for your land. And what’s good for the land tends to be good for whatever you’re trying to grow or graze on top of it.

There is no one size fits all when it comes to carbon methodologies. Each project is designed specifically to earn you credits (ACCUs) based on the natural attributes, historical and existing land use of your property, and can range from a single activity (eg. new fences) to a whole-farm exercise. This means that whichever land management adjustments your project developer suggests – be it increasing native vegetation cover or upgrading infrastructure – you’ll be earning credits while doing what’s right for your land, without any negative impact on operations.

Take Soil Carbon projects for example. Depending on your property’s eligibility, a project developer might suggest methodologies that improve the soil’s ability to store carbon, such as no-till farming, or using a different fertilizer. It’s a powerful methodology climate-wise, with studies showing that increasing soil carbon by just 0.4% each year is enough to offset any annual increase in CO2 levels from fossil fuel emissions.

But while this sequestration of CO2 is what land managers are being paid for via the carbon market, the land also benefits from better water retention, reduced erosion and potentially even higher nutrients in crops.  It’s a productivity win paid for by ACCUs.

Regenerating or protecting bushland is another common carbon project type in Australia. If your project developer deems your property eligible, increased native vegetation cover can serve to reduce your exposure to seasonal extremities, such as crop losses due to winter frost or overheating stock during summer. It’s important to recognise that regeneration doesn’t have to mean wall to wall trees. Land can still be used for grazing with many landholders reporting heathier, happier livestock as a result of a more natural environment.

One of the more common methodologies for Human Induced Regeneration projects is to upgrade boundary fences in order to protect and regenerate native bushlands affected by overgrazing by feral pests. While the primary objective is to achieve better carbon storage, the project may also make it easier to manage and protect your stock or implement rotational grazing methods, which provides a relatively easy boost to productivity and land health. Similarly, enhanced beef herd management methods like nitrate supplements aren’t just designed to cut down greenhouse gas emissions – they can also improve the general health of your stock.

Whatever project is most suitable for your land, there’s of course also one more immediate productivity benefit of the carbon farming process: a stable income stream that can be reinvested into productivity. By drawing in extra revenue from carbon credits, you’ll be able to invest more resources into improving infrastructure, water points and trap yards – or into additional jobs for the local community. Having this new, diversified income stream will also serve to make your business more resilient in the face of drought and other extreme weather events, as your carbon credits will keep accumulating, even if your crop yield or cattle prices don’t.

This shift from viewing carbon farming as only good for the planet is a welcome one – and allows land managers to really take advantage of the benefits to their bottom line and current farming practices. When we look after the land, we’re looking after ourselves and our livelihoods too.

The post What carbon farming can do for your bottom line appeared first on GreenCollar.

By mid-November, the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C was starting to look a little blurry. People started apportioning blame – countries like India, for example, were tagged as responsible for removing language about fossil fuels being phased “out” (they opted instead for the phrase “phasing down”).

Australia shouldered its fair share of responsibility, too. According to the annual Climate Change Performance Index, we ranked last for climate policy, and sunk five places lower on the overall ranking compared to 2020.

While these criticisms aren’t necessarily wrong, they don’t tell the full story. The truth is, if businesses start taking matters into their own hands, we do have the opportunity to change our trajectory. And Australia’s agricultural sector could continue to lead that charge. Here’s how:

Reforestation: the key to 2030

To meet our net-zero goals and keep warming below 1.5°C, Australia needs to achieve a 45% reduction in greenhouse emissions by 2030. Significant changes in all industries will be required to meet that target – but there’s plenty Australia’s farmers, graziers and land managers are doing to get us there.

It’s estimated that nature-based solutions could contribute over one-third of the global climate mitigation required within ten years, putting agriculture in the driving seat of the solution. And the carbon market remains one of the most efficient and practical ways to get agricultural businesses on board.

Directing private funding towards essential ecosystem restoration through carbon farming projects and emerging methods that value water quality and other nature positive outcomes, assists the overall goal of reducing on-farm emissions. But these projects directly address more specific goals, too, such as the COP26 declaration on forests and land use, which was signed by over 100 world leaders (including Australia). Any effort to protect, regenerate or plant native trees will help move the needle, and the pledging of billions of dollars to support these aims is a welcome development.

Biodiversity matters

Of course, it’s not enough to simply ‘plant trees,’ as the early days of climate action would have it. We know now that mass planting of non-native vegetation is counterproductive, and can lead to the loss of native ecosystems and reduce biodiversity. This issue was addressed at COP26 with the introduction of the Global Biodiversity Standard, a measure that seeks to protect, restore and enhance biodiversity on a global scale and will be explored in more detail at COP15 later this year.

This is a welcome step towards the type of high-quality ecosystem restoration we’ve been working to benchmark for years. And there are already a number of pilot projects running that land managers will be able to undertake to help get us there more quickly. When conducted sensitively, these solutions can create new habitats for in-need species, while improving water retention and reducing salinity.

Government help is available

One key takeaway from COP26 is that assistance for farmers, graziers and other land managers does exist at the state level. There are various programs available to those looking to do their part, and each is a welcome contribution in the effort to reach our 2050 goal.

Queensland’s Land Restoration Fund supports carbon farming projects in the state to the tune of $500 million, while Victoria’s BushBank program supports land managers to restore and protect natural habitats. At the national level, the Clean Energy Regulator offers advance payments of up to $5,000 to help with the upfront costs of soil sampling associated with approved Soil Carbon projects.

While COP26 left most critics unsatisfied with world leaders’ efforts to avert climate change, Australian land managers have already shown their dedication to the cause. And with over 65 million ACCUs issued to farmers and landholders to date, the economic case for tackling climate action in the agricultural sector is clear.

To avert disaster, Australia’s agriculture industry needs only continue down the path it’s already embarked on. Where there’s a will (backed by carbon credits and sound science), there’s a way.

The post What do the results from COP26 mean for farmers? appeared first on GreenCollar.

What are Reef Credits?

A Reef Credit values the on-farm work undertaken by farmers and other land managers to improve water quality flowing onto the Great Barrier Reef.

The Reef Credits Scheme is the first water quality market of its kind in the world. It pays land managers for improved water quality resulting from their on-farm actions, without compromising the productivity of their land.

The development of the Reef Credit Scheme

The Reef Credit Scheme was pioneered by GreenCollar in partnership with the Queensland agricultural industry, land managers, the Queensland Government and natural resource management organisations Terrain NRM and NQ Dry Tropics.

After its development in October 2018, the Reef Credits Scheme announced its first ever private and public sector buyers in October 2020 – HSBC Australia and the Queensland Government.

How do Reef Credits work?

Reef Credits measure, value and monetise improvements in the quality of water flowing into the Great Barrier Reef as a result of changes in land management. Reef Credits can be generated from projects using one or a combination of the following methodologies:

• Reduction in Sediment Run-Off Through Gully Rehabilitation. This method measures reductions in fine sediment run-off reaching the Great Barrier Reef by rehabilitating eroding gullies. Projects may include river bank stabilisation, earthworks and revegetation.
• Reduction in Nutrient Run-Off Through Managed Fertiliser Application. This method measures the reduction in Dissolved Inorganic Nitrogen (DIN) reaching the Great Barrier Reef.  Projects include improved farm practices across cane, banana, grains, fodder and horticulture.
• Reduction in Nutrient Run-Off through wetlands. This method is under development and will measure the reduction in Dissolved Inorganic Nitrogen (DIN) reaching the Great Barrier Reef via wetlands.

What are the benefits of the Reef Credit Scheme?

Reef Credits provide diversified and regular income over 10 to 25-year timeframes. This supports investment back into primary production and the implementation of sustainable practices.

“It’s good for the community, it’s good for your soil health, and also it’s good for the reef, so it’s a win for everyone. In my mind this is a farming system, moving forward, that is going to increase my productivity”

– Adrian Darveniza, South Johnstone Farming Company

GreenCollar estimates that the market could be worth over 6 million Reef Credits by 2030. With the reef listed as highly vulnerable, protecting this international icon’s future isn’t just of national importance, but is a matter of global significance. A significance that will continue to drive value (and investment) for Reef Credits into the future. Biodiversity loss is a challenge that is now understood to be on par with the severity of climate change.  The Great Barrier Reef is one of the most fragile and biodiverse places on the planet. Purchasing credits that ensure the health of the reef will be of increasing ESG value to governments, companies and individuals.

How to get involved

Contact GreenCollar by phone or email to have an initial discussion or arrange a free assessment. We’re happy to arrange a site visit to determine whether a project is possible, and which type of project best suits your operations.

Reef Credits are a way to drive environmental benefits for the Great Barrier Reef, while promoting increased productivity in existing farm systems. As Peter Anderson from Sweet Cane Ltd. In Tully puts it, it’s “a win for us on the farm, and a win for the reef”.

Contact:

Bart Dryden – 0400 705 830

Bart.dryden@greencollar.com.au

Tristan Robertson – 0422 273 577
Tristan.robertson@greencollar.com.au

The post The flow-on benefits of Reef Credits appeared first on GreenCollar.

The United Nations’ Paris Agreement is a key driver of public awareness, but it is corporates who are leading the charge. A fifth of the world’s 2000 largest companies (the likes of apple, Microsoft, Nike, and Amazon) have already committed to net zero targets, and they’re doing so independent of government legislation.

Businesses are committing to carbon offsets because they’re a proven way to mitigate climate change while making tangible, positive impact. And the way environmental markets are set up means they can put a value on their actions as well as verifying their ESG credentials.

What are Carbon Offsets?

Many companies do adopt practices to cut their emissions at the source, but not every entity can viably cease outputting carbon entirely.

Enter: carbon credits.

Carbon Offsets are carbon credits purchased by corporates to counteract emissions they have not yet been able to eradicate. Carbon Credits in Australia are a capped market that operate like stocks, except an Australian Carbon Credit Unit (ACCU) represents one tonne of carbon or greenhouse gas equivalent removed from the atmosphere.

How do businesses use Carbon Offsets?

Larger emitters use carbon offsets as a means to satisfy their environmental requirements, through the Clean Energy Regulator (CER)’s safeguard mechanism. But purchasing ACCUs is often done voluntarily, and doesn’t only account for emissions reduction, but is a way for businesses to meet ESG targets and in some cases, produce income.

The federal government’s ‘Safeguard Mechanism’ calls for large polluters to purchase and surrender ACCUs to comply with regulation, but most corporate participation in the carbon market is voluntary. The Harvard Business Review interviewed 70 senior executives over 43 of the world’s biggest investment companies and found that ESG was almost always paramount. This is because shareholders note the difference. Many studies have proven the link between companies with high ESG values and high share market performance, with one study by Nordea Equity Research showing that those with the highest ratings trump the financial performance of the lowest by up to 40%.

Because of this, carbon offsets are taking up more and more space in ESG sections of EOY reports as part of sustainability strategies that look to have an immediate impact while they work on reduction of emissions — but it’s not only social capital that companies stand to reap.

Carbon Offset Investment

Because the carbon market is capped, supply and demand dictates ACCU value, and credits become worth more as more are snapped up.

The AFR reports that current research predicts >ACCU values to double by 2030. And with the CER, the Australian Government’s peak body in control of carbon credits, opening the carbon market up to individuals, public buy-in is likely to drive values even higher.

The market is at the stage where corporates, not government, are leading the charge. With changes to US government leadership leaning green, and the Paris Agreement seeing more buy-in, countries like Australia are slated to commit to more substantial climate change mitigation commitments that will encourage further environmental market participation.

Carbon Offset and Carbon Credit Quality

All carbon credits equal the same amount of emissions, but not all carbon credits are equal. The quality of a carbon credit is intrinsic to the pedigree of the carbon project or the registered issuer. This is compounded by more entities entering the market as its potential is publicised.

So how do you make sure the credits you are purchasing are high quality, and the ESG benefits are real? You go to the market leaders. GreenCollar is Australia’s largest project developer and investor with a portfolio of over 200 nature-based projects to our name. We’re also the most successful and longest standing. Our work in environmental markets dates back to 2008, and we are still the largest provider of high-integrity ACCUs to the Australian Government.

Buying Carbon Credits in Australia

ACCUs must be purchased from an abatement project registered through the Emissions Reduction Fund, which has a project map of available sources.

The Carbon Market Institute (CMI), working in collaboration with the CER, also has a list of registered projects categorised by project type, and a marketplace to inform prospective buyers.

As a pioneer of Australia’s carbon market, we work closely with the CMI and CER to effect positive environmental impact and are leading the country in putting ecology on the economic agenda. Our domestic and global team are best placed to advise on how to select high quality and high integrity Australian and international carbon credits across various project types and jurisdictions at competitive prices.

For business owners and corporations, this means we’re best equipped to help you take the path less trodden while keeping your footprint light.

The post Carbon Offsets in Australia: Everything You Need to Know appeared first on GreenCollar.

The post An Introduction to carbon trading appeared first on GreenCollar.

GreenCollar is proud to be a facilitating partner of the Peoples Forests Partnership (PFP), an industry first coalition that aims to mobilise private investment in community-driven forest conservation and restoration projects and set a high standard for equitable, accessible and culturally appropriate mechanisms through which Indigenous Peoples, traditional owners and local communities (IPLC) can engage with climate finance.

With more than 100 world leaders at COP26 promising to end and reverse deforestation by 2030, Peoples Forest Partnership will help rectify the imbalance of Indigenous Peoples managing one-fifth of tropical and subtropical forest carbon and conserving 80 percent of all biodiversity while receiving less than one percent of international climate assistance.

GreenCollar is one of five facilitating partners alongside Forest Trends, RECOFTC, Wildlife Works, and Everland. Together the partners aim to mobilise at least $20billion per year in long-term, private sector investments as well as public funding, channelling it directly to forest communities by 2030 to reward their efforts to successfully stop deforestation.

Robert O’Sullivan, Head of International Projects for GreenCollar outlined the potential of the scheme; “If IPLCs receive direct and equitable access to climate finance there is tremendous potential to rapidly protect and restore international forests at scale and help meet the global pledges to halt deforestation by 2030.

“IPLCs are not limited to small, isolated projects. Indigenous and traditional communities manage global forest carbon stores equal to at least 33 times the worlds’ energy emissions in 2017. This under-represents the amount of stored carbon managed by IPLCs, and these forests are at risk if we do not move quickly to support communities in protecting them.”

PFP estimates that channelling funding directly to IPLCs could reduce CO2 emissions from deforestation each year by at least 2 billion tonnes, protecting at least 500 million hectares of threatened tropical forest and its biodiversity, while supporting IPLC livelihoods.

The initial stage of PFP is an open discussion with interested stakeholders to offer their input on documents of engagement and operating principles, including membership criteria for high-integrity community-based projects, project developers, investors. A draft set of documents has been developed in consultation with select Indigenous Peoples leadership and other stakeholders.

Robert O’Sullivan commented; “GreenCollar works to the highest standards of free, prior and informed consent across Australia and in the Asia Pacific region, engaging with Indigenous Peoples, traditional owners and local communities to understand how its projects can best align with their aspirations.

“This new partnership is an opportunity to establish high operating principles on a global scale and better recognise the important role Indigenous Peoples, traditional owners and local communities play in safeguarding and protecting vast carbon stores worldwide,” he said.

Interested parties can submit an expression of interest to become a member or participate in the public consultation here.

The post GreenCollar joins Peoples Forests Partnership appeared first on GreenCollar.