General
How does partnering with Carbon Neutral help the environment?
Understanding your carbon emissions, participating in the carbon market or assisting with reforestation all benefit the environment, some examples are:
- Measuring your carbon footprint and implementing energy reduction strategies can reduce your impact on climate change.
- Helping create carbon offsets will reduce carbon in the atmosphere and contribute to the slowing and eventual reversal of global warming.
- The Plant-a-Tree program helps restore Australian biodiverse habitat, and contributes to expanding a natural carbon sink.
Does reducing carbon emissions save money?
Financial savings can be achieved by improving your operational efficiency and reducing your carbon footprint. Developing a carbon management plan that sets targets and measures outcomes is recommended once you have identified your carbon footprint – this generally improves your efficiency, reduces costs and provides good customer PR, as well delivering environmental benefits.
Which countries does Carbon Neutral work in?
We work with organisations from around the globe to offset their emissions; climate does not heed country boundaries. As well as generating carbon offsets for our own projects in Australia, we source international offsets from a variety of countries, both advanced and developing nations.
Is my purchase tax deductible?
The purchase of trees or carbon offsets may be a tax deductible business expense but organisations will need to seek their own independent tax advice.
Carbon Offsetting
What are carbon offsets?
A carbon offset is generated by an activity that either prevents the release, reduces, or removes greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the atmosphere. Carbon offsets are typically measured in metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2-e). One tonne of carbon offset means there will be one less tonne of carbon dioxide (or an equivalent GHG) in the atmosphere than there otherwise would have been.
What is carbon offsetting?
Carbon offsetting is a market-based mechanism that enables individuals ans companies to negate unavoidable GHG emissions. Offsets can be purchased by anyone and can be used to balnce all or part of your emissions.
What is the voluntary market, and what is the compliance market?
Voluntary Markets allow organisations to access carbon offsets that have been issued under various voluntary standards, enabling them to reduce their overall carbon footprints, whether for business (marketing), moral or philanthropic reasons or in anticipation of regulatios being introduced. The voluntary market is more flexible than the compliance market but the standards held are often more rigorous than compliance standards.
The Compliance (or Regulatory) Markets operate where relevant legislation requires organisations to measure and report their carbon emissions and, if necessary to balance theri legislated carbon allowance, acquire carbon offsets that have been issued in accordance with strict regulatory requirements.
What are accredited / unaccredited offsets?
Accredited carbon offset projects are assessed, verified and certified under strictly regulated and controlled global standards that comply with the Kyoto Protocol Mechanism. Projects must comply with strict standards, they must undergo independent verification by accredited third parties and are subject to regular and ongoing review and auditing mechanisms. Accredited offsets can be used in both the Compliance and the Voluntary Markets.
Unaccredited offsets do not need to comply with any standards; the project developer can apply its own guidelines or protocols, and projects do not have to undergo the same rigorous mechanisms as accredited offsets. Unaccredited offsets can only be used in the Voluntary market.
What certification standards does Carbon Neutral use?
Carbon Neutral is licensed to generate and trade in Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) that are issued under the Australian government’s regulatory framework. We also trade in Certified Emission Reduction (CER) units issued under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). These carbon offsets can be used in both the compliance and voluntary markets.
Our reforestation project is certified under the Gold Standard Foundation Land Use and Forestry certification methodology (we are the only carbon project developer in Australia to have achieved this accreditation). The carbon offset credits that are generated are only issued after rigourous independent audits; the resulting Gold Standard Verified Emission Reductions (VERs) can be traded on the international market vis Gold Standard’s independent register.
Carbon Neutral sources other certified offsets for clients such as Verra VCS and United Nations’ CDM CERs. Carbon Neutral is also licensed to sell ACCUs.
We also sell Biodiverse Reforestation Carbon Offsets (BRCOs) from our reforestation projects. These are generated in accordance with Carbon Neutral’s own internal methodology but are not accredited by a recognised accrediting body. They are, however, assessed and verified by independent third party auditors.
Trees
Why trees?
Trees absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and release oxygen. They clean the air we breathe, filter the water we drink and provide habitat to over 80% of the world’s terrestrial biodiversity.
Additionally, forests provide jobs to over 1.6 billion people, and are the source of key ingredients in one quarter of all medicines. They capture and slow down water in places that are at risk of floods. A single tree can be home to hundreds of species of insect, fungi, moss, mammals, and plants. All the benefits of planting trees and reforesting are too numerous to list!
What species do you plant, where and when?
Species planted are predominantly drought-tolerant Eucalypts and woody-stemmed Acacias that are endemic to the area. We plant over 60 species of trees and shrubs to encourage biodiversity.
Our planting sites are located within the Yarra Yarra Biodiversity Corridor of Southwest Australia. Over 90% of the land was cleared for traditional farming in parts of the region during the 1900s.
Trees are planted after the first rains of winter – generally between June and August. This ensures adequate water availability to give the trees and shrubs a great start.
How is carbon measured in trees?
Trees remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through photosynthesis and store the carbon in their leaves, branches, stems, bark and roots. Approximately half the dry weight of a tree’s biomass is carbon. One tonne of C = 3.67 tonnes of ‘carbon dioxide equivalent’ (CO2-e).
We measure woody biomass (stems, leaves and roots). On-ground measurement of carbon is based on detailed growth models using specie specific allometric equations to reflect the amount of carbon stored in the forest. These measurements and sampling techniques are approved by the international Gold Standard Foundation. Carbon Neutral is also a contributor under CSIRO’s project “CFI Methodology and Tool Development – Estimation of change in biomass carbon in complex woody systems”.
How are the trees protected?
Our planting sites are legally protected by a 100 year Carbon Right and Carbon Covenant which is registered on the land title. This means the current landowner (and subsequent landowners if sites are sold) must not damage or remove trees for 100 years. This also complies with the Kyoto Protocol.
Unlike monocultures, biodiverse plantings are more resilient to fire. But we also employ a number of fire protection strategies including geographic separation, firebreaks and control measures. Fire insurance is annually renewed and held for 3 years after which eucalyptus woodland’s natural adaptations survive though bushfire.