A growing divide over the integrity of a controversial carbon credit method is threatening to complicate the final stages of the Great Koala National Park (GKNP), with scientists, environmental groups and the timber industry opposing the scheme.
The NSW Government is relying on the federal government’s Improved Native Forest Management (INFM) method to help fund the proposed 476,000-hectare national park. It says registering a carbon project in the GKNP could generate Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs), providing revenue to support the park’s long-term management.
But the method has become the subject of an increasingly heated political and scientific debate in recent weeks, with environmental groups and the timber industry rarely uniting in opposition.
The Bob Brown Foundation strongly opposes INFM method, viewing it as a flawed scheme that greenwashes fossil fuel pollution.
“The foundation argues that using public native forests to generate Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) allows major polluters to buy offsets instead of actually cutting their emissions,” a spokesperson said.
Alongside other major conservation groups, the Foundation maintains that native forest protection should happen unconditionally rather than being commodified.
Forestry Australia and the timber industry have called for changes to the method, arguing its modelling and accounting framework could result in carbon credits being issued for emissions reductions that are overstated.
The organisation says its analysis suggests the climate benefit could be overstated by between 40 and 100 per cent and has called for the modelling underpinning the scheme to be made public.
The Australia Institute has also questioned whether the park meets the carbon scheme’s “additionality” requirements, saying credits should only be generated for projects that would not otherwise have occurred. Its polling found strong public support for protecting koala habitat, while a majority opposed using forest protection to justify continued fossil fuel pollution.
The federal Senate debate on the INFM legislation has also been delayed, with a disallowance motion moved by NSW Nationals Senator Ross Cadell now scheduled for September 15.
The federal Minister for Climate Change, Chris Bowen, described a vote against the native forest carbon method as a betrayal of the forests.
The Minns Government is backing Minister Bowen, maintaining that the INFM method provides a potential funding mechanism for ending native forest harvesting and transitioning the forests into permanent conservation.
For the NSW Government, the stakes are high. The final creation of the GKNP remains dependent on successful registration of a carbon project under the INFM method.