A group of Australian companies on Monday released a draft method to allow landowners to earn reef credits from improved grazing land management in a bid to boost soil health and improve water quality at the Great Barrier Reef.
Developers GreenCollar, Verterra Ecological Engineering, and AgriProve developed the new project type, which will be the fifth available under the Reef Credit Scheme since it launched in 2018 if it gets accepted.
“The proposed new method will generate revenue for graziers that make changes to land management, which result in reduced flow of fine sediment through to the Great Barrier Reef,” the companies said in a release.
“Projects on any grazing land within the Great Barrier Reef catchments could be eligible to benefit.”
Under the new method, farmers will be asked to produce a grazing land management plan outlining actions they intend to reduce fine sediment losses – such as matching stocking rates to forage budgets or introducing periods of rest – and then earn credits for documented results compared to historical levels.
One reef credit represents 1 kilo of dissolved inorganic nitrogen, estimated to equal 538 kilos of sediment prevented from reaching the Great Barrier Reef.
GreenCollar, which initiated the scheme, has estimated that some 6 million credits might be generated by 2030, for sale to companies wishing to contribute to the improvement of Great Barrier Reef water quality or improved soil health as part of their ESG targets.
The new grazing land management method focuses on soil health and has been developed especially so that it can generate reef credits while soil carbon credits are generated on the same plot of land, with co-developer AgriProve being Australia’s main proponent of that market with more than 500 projects in its portfolio.
EcoMarkets Australia oversees the Reef Credit Scheme and issued the first credits in 2020, which were bought by the Queensland state government and bank HSBC at an undisclosed price.
Four methods have previously been developed under the scheme, covering managed fertiliser applications, gully rehabilitation, waste water treatment, and constructed wetlands.
The latest method will be subject to public consultation until Oct. 5, after which potential changes might be incorporated and the method submitted for scientific peer review.
GreenCollar is Australia’s biggest developer of carbon credits, focused on land-based projects such as human-induced regeneration, and is also the first company in the country to have earned Verra-issued plastic credits.
It has also developed the NaturePlus biodiversity credit scheme, and expected to receive its first credits in March, though that has not happened yet.
By Stian Reklev – stian@carbon-pulse.com
*** Click here to sign up to our weekly biodiversity newsletter ***
