CarbonSMART Landholders

Landcare Australia Limited set up Landcare CarbonSMART in 2007 to help landowners register and trade carbon sequestered across the country in forest sinks.  The aim of CarbonSMART was to reward landholders who choose to sequester carbon in biodiverse forests.  These sinks are typically small to medium sinks (10-100 ha) of indigenous species. All comply with the Kyoto Protocol.

Supported by Westpac, Freehills, Holden, Leighton Holdings, Kraft, Elders and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, CarbonSMART was a pioneer with a long list of achievements:

  • Attained the highest standards of accreditation possible in Australia under the Greenhouse Friendly and NSW GGAS programs.
  • Completed over 50 information sessions in Western Australia, South Australia, Queensland, Victoria, New South Wales and Tasmania.
  • Over the course of more than 20 training sessions trained over 150 people in assessment and data collection for carbon sink sites.
  • Fielded calls from thousands of landholders seeking independent advice on carbon, carbon trading, the Carbon Schemes and revegetation.
  • Contributed to legislative and regulatory development for reforestation under the Carbon Farming Initiative through stakeholder consultation.
  • Delivered high quality offsets to corporate buyers that were environmentally and socially positive.
  • Made possible payments to Landholders for carbon sequestration occurring on their properties—facilitating further revegetation, enhancement and maintenance.
  • Facilitated new planting for biodiversity and carbon outcomes through the provision of carbon advice, modelling and stakeholder facilitation.

Unfortunately the program is no longer accepting landholder applications or actively brokering carbon. Investigations that have been undertaken by Landcare Australia have shown that unfortunately most sites that participated in the CarbonSMART program do not meet the criteria to be included under the Carbon Farming Initiative.

Landcare Australia is working with its government, Greening Australia and corporate partners to provide information to Landholders regarding the opportunities available under the Carbon Farming Initiative and the Clean Energy Future Plan, as the details of these become available. It is anticipated that information will be provided through Landcare Australia’s e-newsletters and the ‘Landcare In Focus’ publication which appears in Rural Press weekly newspapers on the quarterly basis.

Landcare Australia was recently involved with its corporate partner Westpac in presenting information on the challenges and opportunities that the Carbon Farming Initiative provides. These forums were hosted by Westpac in regional locations in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. For more information on these forums and to view some short videos of the presentations go to: http://www.westpac.com.au/business-banking/agribusiness/carbon-and-agriculture/

Other information is also available through Regional Landcare Facilitators and on the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry website http://www.daff.gov.au/climatechange/cfi

Until further information is available for specific enquiries please contact us through enquiries@landcareaustralia.com.au