THE Federal Government has today made changes to the way carbon farming methodologies are developed in the hope of streamlining a historically drawn-out process.

Many are hoping new rules, which were recommended by the Chubb-review, will speed up the development of carbon methodologies for methane reducing feed additives.

Climate change and energy minister Chris Bowen dialled in to the Carbon Market Institute conference in Cairns, calling for carbon project proponents to submit methodologies to the Emissions Reduction Assurance Committee.

Traditionally, methodologies have been developed in conjunction with the department before moving to ERAC for approval and ultimately to the minister to sign off.

“We’re bolstering the integrity of Australia’s carbon crediting scheme and delivering on recommendations from the independent Chubb Review,” Minister Bowen said.

“Public confidence in the integrity of ACCUs is critical to the success of Australia’s carbon market and this calls for a more inclusive and transparent process for method development.

“The proponent-led model aims to encourage more innovative approaches to carbon abatement and will help to boost the supply of ACCUs to support our net zero ambition.”

Methodologies slow to develop

Developing new methodologies has been a big issue for the carbon industry in recent times, with many project developers currently at a standstill waiting for the Integrated Farm and Land Management methodology – which will allow for multiple projects to be stacked on piece of land.

The Government put a sunset clause on some of the industry’s methodologies, including human induced regeneration, in preparation for IFLM. The slow process in developing the new methodology has left much of the industry in limbo.

AgCarbon Central understands the development of IFLM will continue as is, with a draft of the methodology due to be presented to ERAC later this year.

CMI chief executive John Connor said the Minister’s announcement removed a significant bottleneck.

“The new process will be particularly important as some of the earliest methods for earning carbon credits have reached the end of their life, and are no longer operational,” Mr Connor said.

“Until now, the government has had sole responsibility for prioritising and developing new methods, but this has proved too slow,” Mr Connor said. “For example, none of the five new method priorities for 2022, announced in October 2021, have yet been finalised.”

ERAC chair Karen Hussey said the methodologies will be vetted on how much abatement they can deliver in a short time frame, without compromising integrity.

“The more measurement that can be incorporated into a new method the better,” Ms Hussey said.

“We need to give these projects time to deliver the goods. But on that journey, we need to be as open and honest as we can.”

Source: CMI, Chris Bowen