CFF feedback on 2024 draft Environmental Plantings method

The Carbon Farming Foundation welcomed the opportunity to provide feedback on the Draft Reforestation by Environmental or Mallee Plantings method 2024. We believe this method provides a high-integrity mechanism for land restoration and are eager to see it re-launch as an accessible opportunity for landowners.

The Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water has released a draft replacement method for public comment. We believe it provides positive approaches to some common participation barriers but also introduces new measures that are likely to adversely affect project uptake.

We engaged closely with the Carbon Market Institute’s Integrated Farm and Land Management (IFLM) Taskforce to collate an industry response to the Department. This submission provided detailed technical feedback commending the Department on positive changes made and addressing concerns around uptake and implementation of the draft.

Separately, we submitted independent feedback to the Department. Given our mission to empower and inspire landowners to take urgent action on climate change and ecosystem restoration, our submission sought to directly address the Department’s mandate to ‘make participation easier’. This focused on:

• Proposing an alternative to mandatory FullCAM version transition given the uncertainty this poses for landowners,
• Enhancements to the ‘in lieu of newness’ requirements to support landowners in seeking grant funding prior to project registration,
• Suggesting an alternate approach to stratification to reduce impractical and costly manual measurement,
• Encouraging the Department to adopt ‘alternative assurance’ provisions for the method to assist the feasibility of smaller projects.

You can read our full submission here.

If you have any questions about the expiry of the 2014 method, the draft method or how these changes might affect your current or future project, please contact us at [email protected] or book a meeting with a project facilitator at a time that suits you here.