Qantas has entered into an agreement to buy more than a million tonnes of carbon credits from Henbury Station in central Australia.
The 527,000 hectare station was bought by RM Williams Agricultural Holdings for $13 million last year.
The Federal Government has contributed $9 million to the conservation zone project, which will see the Northern Territory station destocked and restored to a natural landscape.
Qantas environment issues head John Valastro says it is the first time the airline has sourced carbon credits in Australia.
He says the agreement will go a long way to fulfilling the airline’s liabilities under Australia’s carbon pricing scheme.
“What makes this one quite unique is … the size and the scale and … (what) they are doing in terms of the methodology they’re using to actually generate the credits,” he said.
“(It) is about revegetating and repurposing the land.
“We see that as being a powerful use of the sourcing of carbon credits.”
Mr Valastro says the agreement will support both the company and customer carbon-offset programs.
He says many passengers want to be carbon neutral when they fly, and know that the credits are being sourced within Australia.
“What this allows us to do is to actually now source credits more locally, whereas in the past we’ve had to get them from international sources,” he said.
“We can now actually say that their offsetting decision will be supported by an Australian initiative.”
Mr Valastro says he cannot put a figure on how much Qantas is spending to purchase the credits.
