This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
QUEENSLAND is leading the country in support and investment in carbon farming, for the second consecutive year, according to the Carbon Farming Scorecard.
The Carbon Farming Scorecard, released by the Carbon Market Institute (CMI), gave the Sunshine State a score of 82%, pulling in to first place out of Australia’s states and territories.
“Queensland’s leadership in environmental protection has been recognised again,” said Leanne Linard, minister for environment and the Great Barrier Reef.
“The Carbon Market Institute assessed Australia’s federal, state and territory governments on how they are developing their land-based emissions offset markets.
NSW came in second place with score of 71%, up from 64% in 2022, followed by South Australia which increased from 49% to 56%, while Western Australia was up from 46% to 53%.
On the other end of the spectrum, the Northern Territory had the lowest score at 32% up from 31% in 2022, followed by Tasmania with 37% up from 33% and Victoria at 41% up from 36%.
Queensland also topped the federal government’s score of 78%, despite increasing from 70% the year before.
The top score for Queensland comes after the state government’s $500 million Land Restoration Fund, as well as policy and partnerships with key stakeholders in carbon farming.
“This year’s result recognises that the Palaszczuk Government has taken a proactive approach to sharing information about its investments, enabling investors to make more confident decisions,” added Linard.
“Since the 2022 report card was released, we have increased the amount of data available to the market about each LRF project and each investment round to uphold and improve the carbon market’s integrity and transparency.”
The Land Restoration Fund’s recently launched third investment round will see a further $50 million invested into carbon farming projects.
With the new projects under Investment Round 3 to complement the 22 projects, which have already seen $100 million of investment since start of introduction of the fund.
“The Palaszczuk Government remains firmly committed to continuing to support carbon farming initiatives which not only helps tackle climate change, but provides economic, social and cultural benefits as well,” concluded Linard.
