News Excerpt:

Australia’s carbon credit scheme was undermined by damning new research published in the “Nature Communications journal, Earth & Environment”, which found a world-leading reforestation project had been an underperforming “catastrophe”.

Kay takeaways of the research:

• Vast swathes of land across Australia’s desert Outback have been earmarked for native forest regeneration meant to offset emissions as new trees suck up carbon.
• But researchers have found that across almost 80% of these plantations, forest growth was either stagnant or that woodlands were shrinking.
• Australia has set aside almost 42 million hectares under the scheme, an area larger than the landmass of Japan. 
• Researchers said it was “one of the world’s largest” natural carbon offset projects.
• Officials claim that since 2013, the native forest spreading across this land has sucked up more than 27 million tonnes of carbon.
• But the peer-reviewed study, which used satellite imagery to chart forest growth, has cast serious doubt on this figure.
• Australia had used these projects to bank millions of tonnes in questionable carbon credits, which are used to offset polluting industries.
• Each tonne of carbon sequestered by these forests is chalked up as a single carbon credit. 
• These credits are then bought by mining companies, airlines, and other heavily polluting industries to offset their emissions.

Australia’s Emission Statistics:

• Australia has committed to cutting carbon emissions by 43% by 2030 from 2005 levels, on a path to reaching net-zero emissions by 2050.
• Australia’s carbon dioxide emissions per person are among the highest in the world at 15.3 tonnes, surpassing U.S. levels.
• Despite its growing vulnerability to climate-linked natural disasters, Australia remains one of the world’s biggest exporters of gas and thermal coal.