Revised method to help farmers, growers

Posted 21 January 2022

Timber Economics Carbon

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The revised plantation forestry method will give the forestry industry more opportunities to earn revenue through projects.

The updated and revised Plantation Forestry Method under the Emissions Reduction Fund has been released by the Australian Government.

The revised method should make it easier for farmers, growers and the forestry sector to develop high-integrity carbon offsets and earn revenue while helping Australia achieve its emissions reduction targets.

Under the old method, landowners could earn carbon credits for:

• Establishment of a new plantation forest on land that had no plantation forest for the past seven years;
• Conversion of a short-rotation plantation to a long-rotation plantation;

Under the new method, in addition to the above two project activities, landowners can now also earn credits for;

• Continuing plantation forestry under circumstances where the land would have otherwise converted to non-forested land such as pasture;
• Transitioning a plantation forest to a permanent forest under circumstances where the land would have otherwise converted to non-forested land.

Other improvements to the method include increasing the range of species able to be grown in a plantation and making the eligibility requirements more flexible to meet landowner needs.

If you have a plantation forest, or are thinking of establishing a plantation forest, or even if you have harvested a plantation forest in the past seven years which could be re-established, then you may be eligible under the new arrangements.

More information here.