The federal government’s plan to pay farmers to reduce carbon emissions will be of little help to Australia’s pledge to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 5 per cent by 2020, estimates show.
The Department of Climate Change estimates only a small greenhouse gas saving from storing extra carbon in farming soil, under Labor’s $45 million Carbon Farming Initiative.
The estimates show the scheme will contribute a cut of 5 million to 15 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent every year by 2020 that can count towards Australia’s international emissions targets.
To reach an unconditional 5 per cent emissions reduction target on 2000 levels by 2020, Australia would have to reduce its carbon emissions by 160 million tonnes a year.
The estimates, made public by the department yesterday, are the first indication of the effect of the scheme, a key Labor election promise crucial to garnering rural support for a carbon tax.
The scheme will grant credits, which later can be sold on government-run or voluntary carbon markets, for a range of activities, including reforestation, management of waste and even killing feral camels.
Andrew Macintosh, of the Australian National University’s Centre for Climate Law & Policy, said many people had been given the wrong idea that the initiative would generate large quantities of credits for farmers for changes in soil carbon management and planting trees on their land.
”What the abatement estimates from the department highlight is that the real potential for initiative credits in the short to medium term lies in waste management and reducing deforestation and reclearing,” he said.
The estimates show that even under the most optimistic scenario, storing more carbon in cropping land will save less than 1 million tonnes of carbon a year by 2020. Savings from soil carbon cannot be counted towards Australia’s emissions reduction targets under international rules.
The estimates instead show most savings under the scheme will be driven by reducing deforestation and better management of waste.
