Frequently Asked Questions

A carbon project proponent carries specific liabilities for the project, namely that any reversal event where ACCUs must be returned to the regulator, is the responsibility of the proponent. The specific services provided by a carbon project provider will vary, so it is important to check the terms and conditions to know what is covered, and whether or not proponency is offered. The types of services carbon project service providers deliver could include expertise in carbon method, administration requirements, technical expertise in the ecological or technical execution of the project (e.g. soil, trees etc.), mapping expertise, measurement approaches, and monitoring and reporting requirements

Carbon projects are long-term commitments that require a consistent committed approach. Building soil carbon is not automatic and requires fine tuning of your grazing, grass and soil management. We also know not all soils will be successful in storing carbon. Our commission model demonstrates that we have skin in the game and are co-investing and taking risk alongside our landholder partners. We won’t sign up projects that we don’t think have the potential to simply drive revenue through fees.

At Atlas Carbon we have developed our support offering to landholders based on a certain property size and ACCU potential to support the fixed and variable costs of undergoing a soil carbon project. Within our support offering are specific farming and soil carbon models which are tailored to minimum property sizes. Our current offering and models therefore constrain the properties we can support. We hope to expand our offering to support smaller properties in the future. There are other developer who support smaller properties through different aggregation business models.

Rainfall level is a strong indicator of the soil conditions required to build and maintain soil carbon. Rainfall is required to drive the level of plant growth, soil micro-organisms, and other biological cycling required to build soil carbon. Soil carbon chemistry is also important. If rainfall is low or insufficient, a property may struggle to build the level of soil carbon necessary to cover the costs of undergoing a soil carbon project, such as soil testing and on farm investment.

MaiaGrazing helps with the “how” of building soil carbon, while maintaining auditable data to demonstrate eligible activity compliance for improved grazing management. Building soil carbon in grazing systems requires improvement across soil health and pasture growth, both of which can be positvily impacted by improved grazing metrics such as paddock to mob ration, rest and recovery ratio and density. In order to improve on these metrics, it is key to stay on top of your feed demand and supply, and grazing rotations all in line with rainfall. MaiaGrazing is the only tool that provides the in-depth data, analytics and planning tools to provide the insights required for improved grazing management.

This could be due to your property size, rainfall, temperature or a combination of the three. If you believe this could be an error, please contact our customer support team.

The farm visit is a key part of the Atlas Carbon service offering to ensure that:

1. Your property has the potential to succeed in a soil carbon project, given its soil chemistry, stage of development and enterprise mix potential
2. We are aligned as partners on what on farm investment and practice adoption will be required to sufficiently increase soil carbon
3. We are happy working together as long-term partners

Carbon credits can be sold through various platforms, including emissions trading schemes and voluntary carbon markets. Companies and organisations may also purchase carbon credits to offset their emissions and meet emissions reduction targets.

Costs involved in running a soil carbon project include registration, soil, emissions and activity baselining costs, monitoring and verification expenses, administration and audit costs, and costs associated with implementing and maintaining the soil management practices.

Financial benefits for graziers stem from the sale of carbon credits and improved farm productivity due to healthier soils and rich biodiversity. Enhanced soil health can lead to reduced input costs and increased land value. Individual graziers need to run the numbers for their property to understand what it will cost for them to be successful in a carbon project, and how much they might make from carbon credits to understand the true ROI of a project. Atlas Carbon provides two levels of this assessment through our Cost Benefit Report and Soil Carbon Viability Assessment which provides a tailored breakdown of estimate on-farm investments, practice change and soil carbon potential for your property. We recommend you work with your own advisors to make any financial decisions for your business.

Carbon credits are a form of tradable certificate that represent a specific amount of carbon dioxide emissions reduced or avoided. They are used as a way to reduce emissions in a cost-effective manner, through the creation of a market for emissions reductions. One carbon credit represents one ton of CO2 avoided or removed from the atmosphere.

The Emissions Reduction Fund is a regulated scheme developed to reduce Australia's greenhouse gas emissions. Taking part in eligible activities under the scheme can allow individuals and businesses to earn Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs). Soil carbon project participants can earn ACCUs through successful implementation of eligible activities that generate more carbon in their soil. With the implementation of Australia’s Safeguard Mechanism, the creation of a compliance market is created for ACCUs, though many other companies that do not fall under the Safeguard mechanism still purchase ACCUs to offset their emissions on a voluntary basis.