7Soil carbon projects

7  Soil carbon projects

 (1) For paragraph 106(1)(a) of the Act, this determination applies to a sequestration offsets project that:

 (a) involves the sequestration of carbon in soil in an agricultural system through carrying out one or more eligible management activities; and

 (b) can reasonably be expected to result in eligible carbon abatement; and

 (c) has its project area within Australia, excluding the external territories.

 (2) For this determination, a management activity is an eligible management activity if it:

 (a) involves one of the following land management activities:

 (i) applying nutrients to the land in the form of a synthetic or non-synthetic fertiliser to address a material deficiency;

 (ii) applying lime to remediate acid soils;

 (iii) applying gypsum to remediate sodic or magnesic soils;

 (iv) undertaking new irrigation;

 (v) re-establishing or rejuvenating a pasture by seeding;

 (vi) establishing, and permanently maintaining, a pasture where there was previously no pasture, such as on cropland or bare fallow;

 (vii) altering the stocking rate, duration or intensity of grazing;

 (viii) retaining stubble after a crop is harvested;

 (ix) converting from intensive tillage practices to reduced or no tillage practices;

 (x) modifying landscape or landform features to remediate land;

 (xi) using mechanical means to add or redistribute soil through the soil profile; and

 (b) is an improvement on the land management activities conducted in the agricultural system during the baseline period such that:

 (i) at least one of the land management activities is new or materially different from the equivalent land management activity conducted during the baseline period; and

 (ii) more carbon can reasonably be expected to be sequestered in that system as a result of carrying out that land management activity; and

 (c) does not involve activities excluded by section 11 or the carrying out of activities restricted by section 12.

 (3) A project covered by subsection (1) is a soil carbon project.

 (4) A land management activity covered by subparagraphs (2)(a)(x) or (xi) is a soil landscape modification activity.

Projects not covered by determination

 (5) However, this determination does not cover an offsets project whose applicable methodology determination is the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative—Estimating Sequestration of Carbon in Soil Using Default Values) Methodology Determination 2015.