SYDNEY, March 27, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Australia's carbon credit scheme was 
undermined by damning new research Wednesday, which found a world-leading 
reforestation project had been an underperforming "catastrophe".

Vast swathes of land across Australia's desert Outback have been earmarked 
for native forest regeneration, which is meant to offset emissions as new 
trees suck up carbon.

But researchers have found that across almost 80 percent of these plantations 
forest growth was either stagnant -- or that woodlands were shrinking.

Despite this, Australia had used these projects to bank millions of tonnes in 
questionable carbon credits, scientists said, which are used to supposedly 
offset polluting industries.

"I think it can only be described, and I'm using generous words here, as a 
gross failure," lead author Andrew Macintosh told AFP.

"It's a catastrophe," he said, adding that it would "stain" Australia's 
reputation.

Australia has set aside almost 42 million hectares (104 million acres) under 
the scheme, an area larger than the landmass of Japan.

Researchers said it was "one of the world's largest" natural carbon offset 
projects.

Officials claim that since 2013, the native forest spreading across this land 
has sucked up more than 27 million tonnes of carbon.

But the peer-reviewed research, which used satellite imagery to chart forest 
growth, has cast serious doubt on this figure.

"They should be showing really strong increases in tree cover," said 
Macintosh, a former chair of the government body responsible for tracking 
Australia's carbon offsets.

"And it's not there, we're not seeing it."

Each ton of carbon sequestered by these forests is chalked up as a single 
carbon credit.

These carbon credits are then bought by mining companies, airlines, and other 
heavily polluting industries to offset their emissions.
Macintosh said Australia was, in essence, selling carbon credits that did not 
exist.

- Lack of faith -

"There are meant to be checks along the way. But they're not applying them," 
said Macintosh, now a professor of environmental law at Australian National 
University. 

"What sort of faith do I have in the carbon credits scheme? It's very, very 
low. Our scheme is without a doubt amongst the least transparent in the 
world."

Australia's Clean Energy Regulator said "a number of reviews have confirmed 
the integrity" of these carbon offsets.

The regulator said it "only issues carbon credits where a project can 
demonstrate regenerating native forest".

Australian Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen said the 
assumptions underpinning the scheme remained "basically sound".

Climate policy has long been a fraught affair in Australia, set back by a 
decade of political brawling dubbed the "climate wars". 

Despite its growing vulnerability to climate-linked natural disasters, 
Australia remains one of the world's biggest exports of gas and thermal coal.

The peer-reviewed research was published in the Nature Communications 
journal, Earth & Environment.

Australia has committed to cutting carbon emissions by 43 percent by 2030 
from 2005 levels, on a path to reaching net-zero emissions by 2050.

Australia's carbon dioxide emissions per person are among the highest in the 
world at 15.3 tonnes, surpassing US levels, World Bank figures show.