Leading carbon farming project partner, Climate Friendly, welcomes the outcomes released today by the Independent Chubb Review of Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) which concludes Australia’s carbon crediting framework is ‘sound’ and ‘fundamentally well-designed’.
Co-CEO Skye Glenday says Climate Friendly supports the recommendations for improvements made by the Review Panel, which are based on learnings from more than a decade of successful implementation.
“We acknowledge the finding that carbon abatement has not been overstated – integrity and effectiveness of ACCUs are paramount for the confidence of land managers interested in adopting more sustainable land management practices, and more importantly, critical to achieving Australia’s central goal of tackling climate change,” she says.
Skye says Climate Friendly supports in principle all the recommendations made by the Review Panel.
“We are looking forward to working with the Albanese Government, land managers, First Nations people, conservation organisations, agri-business and a broad spectrum of other stakeholders to support their successful and prompt implementation.”
The Final Report includes the need to update governance structures and introduce a robust national environmental data sharing framework. These both formed a key part of Climate Friendly’s submission to the Review Panel and were also broadly supported by many of the 162 public submissions.
“Separation of governance functions will further strengthen Australia’s carbon crediting framework and enabling data-sharing will deliver greater transparency, shared understanding of project impacts and achievements, and the ability to rapidly scale up land-based, nature-positive climate action,” says Skye.
Climate Friendly and its project partners welcome the finding that the human-induced regeneration method is robust and subject to numerous integrity checks.
Co-CEO Josh Harris says that governance and transparency have always been central to Climate Friendly’s operations.
“Each regeneration project supported by Climate Friendly has detailed, independently verified data that includes evidence for how tree regeneration was inhibited in the ten years prior to starting a project.”
As part of its carbon project implementation, Climate Friendly collects, reviews and audits quarterly data on the land management changes undertaken by its project partners to remove growth inhibitors and enable native forest regeneration (see Our impact – carbon farming regenerating the landscape ).
“We look forward to working with our partners and government on improved data sharing arrangements. We want others including reviewers, researchers and policy makers to be able to access data easily to help inform policy and emerging science as well as accelerate sustainable land management practices,” says Josh.
Across its land regeneration projects, Climate Friendly recognises the importance of building authentic and meaningful partnerships with First Nations People and their key role in effective land management.
Climate Friendly supports the emphasis in the Report for additional measures to enhance First Nations participation, supported by appropriate resources and funding, with implementation informed by an Indigenous Voice.
“We believe that by partnering together we can foster healthier country, deliver new economic opportunities for Indigenous people and facilitate reconciliation,” says Skye.
Climate Friendly welcomes recommendations to boost the development of new carbon farming methods. The recommended approach will enable methods to be more modular, tailored to unique local ecosystems,and more readily updated based on emerging science and technology. The revised process is well aligned with the modular approach in the Integrated Farm Management Method currently under development.
“A more nimble approach to method development will enable greater adoption of carbon farming in Australia,” says Skye. “Innovation and rapid scale up of land sector abatement is essential to achieving net zero and nature-positive ambitions.”
The Government’s commitment to implementing these recommendations, and aligning its carbon crediting framework with a new nature repair market and strong Safeguard Mechanism targets, positions Australia as an ambitious global leader delivering multi-layered benefits for nature, climate, community and country.
Background:
Read Climate Friendly’s detailed submissions to the Chubb Review here:
- Our impact – carbon farming regenerating the landscape
- Our submission to the Independent ACCU Review – summary
- Our submission to the independent ACCU Review – attachment 1 (governance, transparency & co-benefits, including for Indigenous Australians and biodiversity)
- Our submission to the Independent ACCU Review – attachment 2 (technical rigour)
Read the Review Panel’s final report and Government Response here:
https://www.dcceew.gov.au/climate-change/emissions-reduction/independent-review-accus
