Carbon farming, calculating farm emissions and insetting

Carbon farming involves undertaking activities on your farm or property to either reduce emissions (abatement) or capture and store carbon (sequestration).

Some land managers who participate in carbon farming can earn Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs). Each ACCU represents one tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent (t CO₂e).

Land managers register approved projects with the Clean Energy Regulator’s ACCU Scheme. They can then sell their carbon credits to the Australian Government or to other buyers on what is known as the secondary market.

You can carbon farm without undertaking an ACCU project. Instead, you can calculate your emissions reduction and storage activities. This is evidence you can provide to your buyer to demonstrate your products’ emissions.

If you’re an agricultural producer, you may be asked to report the greenhouse gas emissions associated with your products. Your buyers may require your farm’s production emissions data as part of a carbon audit of the supply chain.

Visit the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development website to learn more about carbon farming.

You can find more information on carbon audits in these Guidelines for conducting a carbon audit on grazing properties.

Carbon ‘insetting’: keeping your carbon on your books

While some carbon farming activities can earn you ACCUs, if you choose to sell the ACCUs, you will be ‘offsetting’ the ACCU buyer’s emissions. The carbon goes ‘on the books’ of the ACCU buyer.

Carbon ‘insetting’ focuses on reducing carbon emissions within your own operations, rather than offsetting someone else’s emissions.

To demonstrate your product’s carbon footprint, you need to:

1. measure your carbon sequestration from natural carbon stores like trees, plants and soil
2. calculate emissions from your livestock and fuel consumption
3. record this data so you can share it with buyers in your supply chain if they ask.

Unlike carbon offsetting, which involves selling your carbon to someone else, insetting keeps your carbon sequestration on your farm’s books. This means your products will have a lower carbon footprint, making them more desirable to buyers.

How does carbon insetting work?

The process of insetting involves:

• Recording baseline emissions: start by measuring and recording your farm’s current emissions using available tools.
• Securing data: save your emissions data in a safe place and be careful which tools you use.
• Identifying options to reduce emissions and increase carbon storage: use practices such as herd management or fertiliser reduction, feed additives and tree planting.
• Regular re-calculation: re-calculate emissions at regular intervals (at least once a year) to track your progress.

By following these steps, you may be better able to satisfy carbon audit requests from your buyers.

Carbon calculators

There are many ‘carbon calculator’ tools you can use to measure the greenhouse gas emissions from your farm business. These calculators provide valuable information when assessing your carbon footprint.

Greenhouse Gas Accounting Framework (GAF) tools have been developed for many Australian primary industries.

Some rural research and development corporations have their own carbon calculators, such as Meat and Livestock Australia and Dairy Australia.

Some calculators might share your data with other parties. Make sure you understand the terms and conditions of that calculator before you enter your information.

If you are not sure which calculator to use or want to know more about calculating your emissions, please contact your LLS Natural Capital Advisor [link to new page with contact numbers].

An alternative way to inset – keeping your ACCUs

You may still want to do a carbon project within the ACCU scheme. Instead of selling your carbon credits (ACCUs), consider keeping them for your own carbon accounting. This allows you to inset your ACCUs towards your carbon footprint when reporting your emissions to a buyer.

Thoughtful consideration and professional advice are essential when making decisions about carbon projects and calculating emissions.

Contact your local Natural Capital Advisor for support. or you can access other trusted government services using our natural capital service finder.