Three Australian companies have announced their method to allow landholders to earn reef credits from improved grazing land management that seeks to boost soil health and improve water quality at the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) has been approved by the market’s overseer.

GreenCollar, Verterra Ecological Engineering, and Agriprove Solutions developed the Grazing Land Management (GLM) method under the Reef Credit Scheme.

The companies, alongside EcoMarkets Australia which governs the scheme, announced the GLM method has been approved and released, and that projects on any grazing land within GBR catchments may be eligible.

“EcoMarkets Australia’s independent administration of the Reef Credit Scheme ensures that every methodology, including the GLM method, experiences a thorough evaluation before being approved to generate reef credits,” the EcoMarkets Australia CEO Maree Adshead said.

Under the grazing land management (GLM) method, farmers are asked to produce a grazing land management plan outlining actions they intend to implement to reduce fine sediment losses, such as matching stocking rates to forage budgets or introducing periods of rest.

Landholders then earn credits for documented results compared to historical levels, with one reef credit representing 1 kilo of dissolved inorganic nitrogen, estimated to equal 538 kilos of sediment prevented from reaching the GBR.

Individual monitoring and reporting periods are proposed to last between six months and fives years, with changes in ground cover monitored monthly using remote sensing technology, according to the statement.

“GLM is another outcomes-based method that will enable pollutant reductions to be achieved at scale and will complement the other reef credit methodologies to create a market-based solution to help address water quality in reef catchment areas,” GreenCollar CEO James Schultz said.

GreenCollar launched the Reef Credit Scheme and estimates that some 6 million credits might be generated by 2030 to be sold to companies wanting to contribute to the improvement of the reef or improved soil health as part of their ESG targets.

EcoMarkets issued the first credits in 2020, which were bought by the Queensland state government and bank HSBC at an undisclosed price.

The GLM method joins four existing methods under the scheme which involve reducing nutrient and sediment run-off through managed fertiliser applications, gully rehabilitation, waster water treatment, and constructed wetlands.

The method’s quantification approach, developed by Verterra, has been incorporated within Drover, an integrated property management and reporting toolkit which measures the difference between historic and present-day sediment losses to the Great Barrier Reef through monitoring of ground cover change via remote sensing technology.

“Drover aims to act as a decision support tool to enhance the grazing land management practices for landholders,” Verterra’s Andrew Yates said.

In a separate statement, Eco-Markets Australia said landholders may have the potential to stack reef credits with Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs), which it said could further incentivise participation.

“This could provide diversified income streams, helping landholders to secure financial benefits while expanding contributions to environmental restoration,” it said.

Erosion from large-scale clearing and livestock disturbance is causing elevated levels of sediment and nutrients to discharge into the reef’s coastal waters, according to the Australian Institute of Marine Science.

Excessive sedimentation can damage coastal ecosystems by disrupting coral larvae, limiting light available for reef organisms needed to grow, and cause coral disease and mortality, leading to these ecosystems being dominated by algae and reducing coral diversity.

Meanwhile, a study published in Nature last month found mass coral bleaching on the GBR between 2016 and 2024 was driven by high sea surfaces temperatures, warning the “existential threat to the GBR ecosystem from anthropogenic climate change is now realised”.

“Without urgent intervention, the iconic GBR is at risk of experiencing temperatures conducive to near-annual coral bleaching, with negative consequences for biodiversity and ecosystems services,” the study’s abstract said.

By Mark Tilly – mark@carbon-pulse.com

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