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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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But as companies, governments, celebrities and even major airports clamour to offset their emissions, not enough questions are being asked about precisely where these offsets are coming from. 

When it comes to carbon farming projects, quality is important. GreenCollar’s portfolio of projects stack values to deliver prospective buyers environmental solutions that not only mitigate climate but variously tackle biodiversity conservation, soil rehabilitation, invasive species management and water-quality improvement.  

In the current carbon credit goldrush, where record highs have been recorded this year in both the EU and Australia, there has been, until recently, limited discussion around what determines quality in carbon offsets. 

Quality in carbon credit projects is determined by the source and nature of the projects. GreenCollar’s projects definitionally have additionalities built into their design, so they are able to provide a range of environmental solutions beyond just climate mitigation. These additionalities, also known as ‘Co-Benefits’, aren’t—as the name may suggest—incidental. They are the social, cultural, economic and environmental windfalls created by carbon farming projects.  

GreenCollar’s carbon farming projects have delivered a range of on-farm and on Country environmental benefits including biodiversity and habitat preservation through Avoided Land Clearing, soil remediation through changes in tilling and grazing practices, and flow-on cultural benefits from credits generated by sustainable burning practices.  

For buyers wanting to enhance their environmental reputation, upgrade their Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) principals and continue to develop in accordance with UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) guidelines, the bottom-line benefits are well documented. As large companies flock to make Net Zero commitments, some have exposed their brand to risk by fulfilling their commitments using low-quality credits. But fortunately, as the industry continues to grow, assessing the quality of carbon offset projects is becoming easier, at least locally.  

Projects wishing to generate ACCUs are verified by the Carbon Market Institute (CMI) Carbon Project Registry, which assesses all eligible carbon projects, from sustainable Savannah burning to vegetation management projects and provides a description and contact point for prospective ACCU purchasers. And quality matters from the demand side of the market as well as supply. 

The quality of their carbon farming projects is what truly differentiates GreenCollar from other industry players. Not only does their attention to quality deliver a range of benefits to varied environmental concerns, but also visits enhanced benefits to land managers and a comprehensive brand story for investors looking to publicise their environmental successes. 

Updated 27 May 2025

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Following the EU’s enhanced Nationally Detirmined Contribution (NDC) submission as part of the Paris Agreement in 2021, a groundswell of support for further climate action has been sought internationally.

But perhaps the greatest interest in the journey towards net zero has come from the private sector. During 2020, some of the Australia’s biggest companies made public commitments to carbon neutrality, including KPMG Australia, Woolworths, Officeworks, Bunnings, Coles and Telstra.

Credit value has been surging both locally and internationally, and is projected to double locally by 2030, so for companies wanting to invest in carbon neutrality, now is the time. But how to go about it?

The Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF)

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

The Carbon market Institute (CMI) Marketplace

CMI, working in collaboration with the Clean Energy Regulator (CER), has a list of registered projects, registered through Australia’s Carbon Project Registry and ordered by project type. As well as a place to find ACCU-generating projects, CMI’s marketplace is also a useful local resource for prospective buyers. Contact details provided with each project guide buyers to projects that may be wishing to sell ACCUs or facilitate the sale of another project’s ACCUs.

As a market pioneer in Australia, GreenCollar’s domestic and global team are well 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.

Updated 27 May 2025.

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