Austral Fisheries on Friday announced it was the world’s first seafood company to go carbon neutral after buying 27,444 offsets from Australia’s only Gold Standard-verified emission reduction project.

The offsets have been certified under Australia’s National Carbon Offset Standard (NCOS), Austral said in a statement.

“We identified a need to reduce and offset our carbon emissions to help ensure the health of our oceans, which is fundamental to our business,” said CEO David Carter.

The carbon credits were generated by planting some 190,000 trees in Western Australia’s wheatbelt as part of a project owned by developer Carbon Neutral.

The project was verified by the Gold Standard last September and is expected to generate a total of around 1.2 million offsets during its lifetime.

Australia’s carbon neutral programme allows emitters to use a number of different offset types to earn certification, including CERs and RMUs issued by the UN.

So far the programme has attracted only limited interest, in part due to the ongoing uncertainty around the country’s greenhouse gas emission regulations.

The government has made some changes to the NCOS in recent months hoping to spark greater participation, and Environment Minister Greg Hunt earlier this week said he aimed to see Australia’s first carbon neutral city or precinct by January next year.

By Stian Reklev – stian@carbon-pulse.com

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