AI Carbon was recently awarded a grant by the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund to research carbon sequestration potential in shelterbelt plantings on farms in Southern Australia.
Ai Carbon has recently worked with ten farms across the SA Mallee to:
Carbon yield: Models indicated mallee belt plantings in 300-350 mm rainfall areas would yield 7-10 tCO2e/ha/yr.
Timeframe for return: Based on the most likely carbon price projections, most modelled projects would recover costs within 6 years, and produced carbon revenues three to five times initial costs.
Planting design: Compared to belt plantings, block planting models showed 30 to 40 % lower carbon yields – but with lower fencing costs, returns would be similar.
Mallee vs environmental plantings: Changing from mallee tree species to mixed environmental plantings reduced modelled carbon yields by approx. 25%.
Offset potential: On average, planting 5% of farms to shelterbelts would offset around half of farm emissions.