When Reef Credits launched in 2020, there was just one way farmers and other land managers could get involved – by improving fertiliser management to reduce the flow of dissolved inorganic nitrogen to the Great Barrier Reef. Now, three years later, there are two new ways to get involved that suit a broader spectrum of farming operations.
Environmental markets are not dissimilar to farming or commodity markets. The difference being, instead of food or fibre production, environmental markets measure and place a value on and trade in cleaner air, water or improved habitat and biodiversity.
Being paid to implement best practice land management and deliver cleaner water to the Reef, without negatively impacting productivity may seem too good to be true. But according to GreenCollar Business Development Manager Bart Dryden, and the numerous farmers already running Reef Credit projects, it really is a win:win transaction that benefits both the farmer and the environment.
Environmental markets have grown to meet real-world demand for tangible, positive environmental outcomes and corporations are adjusting their sustainability goals to keep up.
The benefits of Reef Credits are vast, both for land managers and the protection of the Great Barrier Reef.
Five sugarcane farming businesses have successfully sold 18,000 Reef Credits to the Queensland Government as a result of changes to land management practices which prevented 18 tonnes of Nitrogen pollution from flowing to the Great Barrier Reef.
]GreenCollar CEO, James Schultz, joined Greening Australia in its second ‘Restoring the Future’ webinar to discuss how the creation of new markets like Reef Credits addresses crucial environmental issues by paying land managers for on-farm actions.
HSBC and the Queensland Government purchase world-first Reef Credits
