Projects under the plantation forestry method can earn you Australian carbon credit units (ACCUs) by planting or maintaining forestry.
When to use this method
The plantation forestry method may be suitable for your business if you sequester carbon by:
- establishing and maintaining a new plantation forest for commercial harvesting of wood products (Schedule 1)
- converting an existing short rotation plantation forest to a long rotation plantation forest for commercial harvesting of wood products (Schedule 2)
- avoiding conversion of an existing or recently harvested plantation forest (Schedule 3)
- transitioning a plantation forest to a permanent forest, in situations where that plantation is at risk of being converted to non-forested land (Schedule 4).
Schedules are the types of projects used under this method.
You can find out more by referring to our full plantation forestry method guide.
Legislation
Before you plan or register your project, make sure you read and understand the legislative requirements and the method.
Eligibility
Minister for Agriculture
You must email the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry about your project due to the possibility of it negatively impacting Australian agriculture. This must be done before you apply for a project under this method.
The Minister for Agriculture will assess your project and deem it eligible or ineligible.
To be eligible for this method:
- the project area must not have removed, or have plans to remove, native forest in the previous 7 years
- you must meet the criteria for each project activity
- your project must meet the method definition of a plantation forest
- you must meet general eligibility requirements for the Australian Carbon Credit Unit (ACCU) Scheme.
Projects that started before 1 June 2024 were required to adhere to the ‘water rule’. This rule was put in place to ensure tree plantings didn’t have any adverse impact on water availability in high rainfall areas. The ‘water rule’ ended on 1 June 2024 for all projects.
All ACCU projects must still follow relevant state or territory government rules and regulations.
Small-scale plantation forests
Existing projects and new applications can apply to receive a reduced audit schedule. This means you will only have one scheduled audit – the initial audit.
To be eligible to be considered a low-risk plantation forestry project, your project must:
- have an anticipated and reported carbon estimation area of no more than 200 hectares
- agree to be subject to geospatial monitoring and other compliance checks by us
- be covered by either or both Schedule 1 (new plantations) and Schedule 2 (conversion of short to long rotation forests) of the 2022 plantation forestry method.
Projects registered under the 2017 plantation forestry method must vary to the 2022 method to be eligible for alternative assurance arrangements.
Exclusions
Your project is ineligible if:
- it’s under a forestry managed investment scheme
- it clears native forest
- it's deemed so by the Minister for Agriculture.
Method requirements
This method is a variation of the 2017 plantation forestry method. It’s been varied to provide more opportunities for the industry.
If your project started under the 2017 method, we have guidance for participants impacted by the revocation of the 2017 plantation forestry method.
Refer to this guidance for:
- the key differences between the 2017 method and the new method
- how the varied method affects your project
- how to transfer your project to the new method.
You can run a project by:
- establishing a new forestry plantation
- converting a short rotation plantation to a long rotation plantation
- continuing to plant forestry where it would otherwise be converted to non-forested land
- transitioning to a permanent planting in circumstances where it would otherwise be converted to non-forested land.
Some activities may require project land to be in a national plantation inventory (NPI) region. You can find these regions in our plantation forestry method guide.
Establishing a new forestry plantation
To be eligible, your project land must be in an area where there hasn't been forestry plantation in the previous 7 years.
Converting a short-rotation plantation to a long-rotation plantation
Eligibility requirements:
- You must have plantation forest in, or within 100 kilometres of, a NPI region.
- You must thin or prune a plantation after the start date for the long rotation. This ensures the long rotation is at least 10 years longer than the original short rotation.
- The conversion must occur part-way through the short-rotation plantation cycle or following the harvest of a short-rotation plantation.
If there's existing short-rotation plantation underway at the time of application and thinning or pruning has occurred your project may be ineligible (refer to subclause 5(1) and 5(2) of the method).
Continuing rotational harvest cycles in a plantation forest
Eligibility requirements:
- The land must be in, or within 50 kilometres of, an NPI region.
- The plantation forest must be of an age, or be harvested at an age, that’s within 2 years or older than the relevant default clear fell age (schedule 6 of the method).
- You must meet a plantation forestry requirement and non-continuation requirement (schedule 3(3) and schedule 3(4) of the method)
- You must provide method specific evidence as that land would otherwise be converted to viable, non-forested land use within 24 months.
Transitioning a plantation forest to a permanent forest
Eligibility requirements:
- You must provide method specific evidence that land would otherwise be converted to viable, non-forested land use within 24 months.
- You must meet a plantation forestry requirement and non-continuation requirement (schedule 4(3) and schedule 4(4) of the method).
25 years.
Projects under this method are subject to permanence obligations.
You must use and download the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water's 2016 Full Carbon Accounting Model (FullCAM) tool to calculate project carbon stock and abatement. The department provides instructions on how to do this.
For more information, you can refer to our FullCAM Guidelines for the 2022 plantation forestry method.
Emissions associated with the project are activity and method specific. Abatement must be calculated accordingly.
Refer to division 4.3 of the method for further information on how to calculate abatement.
You must report between 6 months and 5 years and can report as often as you want in this timeframe.
Reports must include the submission of a project offsets report with:
- the calculated project abatement
- the required monitoring
- documentation of project activities.
We provide you with an audit schedule when your project's declared.
You must provide audit reports according to this schedule.
We schedule at least 3 audits for regular projects. Extra audits can be triggered.
Approved low-risk plantation forestry projects only have one initial audit. However, a portion of these projects may be subject to compliance audits under the annual assurance program funded by us.
Refer to our audit information to find out more.
Documents and resources
- Make sure your timing is right - information sheet
- Understanding your plantation forestry project - Simple method guide
- Guidance for ERF participants impacted by the revocation of the 2017 plantation forestry method
- Financial assessment guidance
- Forest management plan guidance
- FullCAM Guidelines for the 2022 plantation forestry method
- Manual G and r calculator
- CFI Mapping Guidelines
- Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry's plantation notification
- Request to be considered as a low-risk plantation forestry project form
Explore all ACCU Scheme guidance using the guidance library.