Updated with clarifications from GreenCollar on par 12 and 15
Project developer GreenCollar Group, which last year launched its own biodiversity credit scheme, has issued over 50,000 NaturePlus units to one of its own restoration projects, the second batch of units generated under the framework.
Last October, GreenCollar announced it had issued around 8,500 credits to a sustainable grazing and carbon farming project in New South Wales as part of the NaturePlus scheme, designed to protect and restore ecosystems, habitats, and threatened species.
The Paroo Plains project in New South Wales has become the second project to earn NaturePlus Credits, receiving some 51,878 credits following an independent audit by a third party under the Accounting for Nature (AfN) framework, according to data provided by GreenCollar.
Like the Argyle project that received NaturePlus credits last October, Paroo Plains too is registered under the Australian government’s ACCU Scheme to earn Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs).
“Credits to these projects have been issued for restoration on productive farms in the Mulga Lands bioregion,” a GreenCollar spokesperson told Carbon Pulse.
“The isolation and specific ecological conditions of the Mulga Lands contribute to the evolution of distinct plant and animal species adapted to the arid interior of Australia.”
The Mulga lands is home to 79 threatened species and four endangered ecological communities, including the critically endangered Grey Range Thick-billed Grasswren and the Curlew Sandpiper, according to GreenCollar.
Paroo Plains started its first monitoring period in Mar. 2018, and finished in Apr. 2023, according to the AfN certification documents.
The environmental condition score rose to 59.3 at the end of the monitoring period from 56.2 at the beginning, the documents said.
The improvement score of 3.1 has been multiplied by the number of hectares of the project (16,744 ha), and once leakage and permanence deduction is taken into consideration, the final number of credits issued is 51,878, GreenCollar said.
It noted that had the improvement score been lower, it would have received a lower number of credits, and vice versa if its improvement score was higher.
One NaturePlus Credit represents either restoration (percentage of uplift over period) or conservation (maintenance of condition over period) of one hectare of project area.
GreenCollar said it was in discussion with potential buyers, but was not able to disclose further information.
While GreenCollar itself currently administers the programme entirely, including credit issuance, it has said before that in time it intends to hand these responsibilities over to a third party and remain a pure project proponent.
All methodologies have to be accredited by Accounting for Nature at a confidence level of 80% or greater. All projects must have certified environmental accounts under AfN, GreenCollar later clarified to Carbon Pulse.
It comes as multiple Australian government agencies are working to hammer out the details of Nature Repair Market, which was legislated by the government last year.
The GreenCollar spokesperson said that while the company was involved in discussions on the NRM, it was seeking to deliver outcomes both in Australia and internationally.
By Mark Tilly – mark@carbon-pulse.com
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