The first offset projects under the national Carbon Farming Initiative (CFI) have been approved in Australia, with four landfill sites set to reap environmental rewards by capturing harmful greenhouse gases from waste.
Two gas capture projects are based in Perth at the South Cardup and Mirrabooka landfill sites, with two others in Darwin, and Buderim in Queensland.
Combined, the four landfills will abate around 170,000 tonnes of CO2-e gas, with three sites generating more than 40,000 MWh of renewable energy per year – enough to power 5,600 homes.
Mark Dreyfus, Parliamentary Secretary for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, praised project proponent LMS Energy for its leadership and innovation in the waste industry.
“LMS specializes in transforming waste to energy. Their projects represent a milestone for Australia’s pioneering Carbon Farming Initiative,” said Mr. Dreyfus. “They are helping our communities tackle climate change by turning harmful gases from decomposing rubbish into clean, renewable energy.”
“Australian businesses paying the carbon price will be able to buy carbon credits from LMS, knowing these offsets are producing multiple benefits for the community,” he said.
“Overall, the landfill gas industry is now abating more than 4 million tonnes of CO2-e emissions every year, creating 850 million kilowatt hours of renewable energy – enough to power more than 120,000 homes.”
The Carbon Farming Initiative, which is a key plank of the Federal Government’s Clean Energy Future plan, also applies to the agricultural sector which contributes about 18 per cent of carbon emissions annually.
The CFI provides an opportunity for farmers and landholders to earn carbon credits for storing or reducing carbon pollution on the land. These credits can be sold to businesses requiring offsets or in the voluntary market.
In addition, carbon price revenue will fund $1.7 billion of investment in land sector measures over the next six years to improve sustainability and productivity.
Approved CFI projects are listed on the Register of Offsets Projects on the Clean Energy Regulator website.
Source: Australian Government.
