Project 3010
Program 3

Ag GHG Accounting

Project summary

Objective

Develop science-based guidance for on-farm greenhouse gas accounting and inform a national standard for quantifying emissions and removals in Australian agriculture.

Timeline

2025–2028

Investment

$1.1 million over three years

Program lead

Richard Eckard

Richard Eckard

Program Lead

Richard Eckard

Richard is Professor of Carbon Farming at the University of Melbourne and science leader in the Zero Net Emissions Agriculture Cooperative Research Centre. His research focuses on carbon farming and accounting towards carbon neutral agriculture and options for agriculture to respond to a changing climate. Richard developed the first greenhouse gas accounting tools, for all sectors of agriculture in Australia, that now form an agreed national standard for agriculture. He is a science advisor to the Victorian, Australian, New Zealand, UK and EU governments, the International Livestock Research Institute and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization on climate change adaptation, mitigation and policy development in agriculture. Richard is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, Technology and Engineering and was recently named on the Reuters list of the world’s 1,000 most influential climate scientists

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Overview

Ensuring a consistent and credible approach to calculating emissions from Australian agriculture by establishing a standard and guidance for on-farm greenhouse gas accounting.

This project aims to create guidelines for on-farm greenhouse gas accounting and establish a national standard for measuring emissions and removals in Australian agriculture. This project will also identify improvements needed in national inventory methods, ACCU Scheme methods and Climate Active guidelines.

Whole Farm and Mixed Enterprise Systems Analysis Icon

Program
This project is being completed as part of Program 3: Whole Farm and Mixed Enterprise Systems Analysis

Details

Investment
The CRC will invest $1.1 million over three years to deliver Ag GHG Accounting and provide industry with guidance on farm-level GHG accounting that has high integrity, reflects the latest science and is tailored to Australian farming systems.

Importance
There is strong demand for standardised, scientifically sound and an internationally aligned approach to GHG accounting in Australian agriculture. This project supports the country’s climate goals, enhances the credibility of emissions reporting and facilitates the adoption of emissions reduction technologies.

Impact
Guidance on protocols, methods and metrics will inform a national standard to ensure that a common approach to GHG accounting is applied across Australian agriculture. This will greatly improve the integrity of reporting on Australian farms and provide producers with trusted options

Project team
This project brings together GHG accounting experts from the NSW Department of Primary Industries, Western Australian Agriculture Authority, University of Melbourne, University of Southern Queensland, Queensland University of Technology and the University of New England.

Research Timeline
The project spans from 2025 to 2028. The three year period will allow the project team to conduct comprehensive evaluations, develop frameworks and assess the most promising technologies and technology stacks.

PhDs
Two PhD students will contribute to the project.

Practical Application
Australian agriculture and the CRC needs a standard methodology for quantifying GHG balance for demonstration sites, evaluating farm-level mitigation through new and emerging technologies, and to estimate potential contribution to national emissions reduction targets through adoption of low-emissions management strategies and technologies identified through CRC research. The standard will ensure that GHG estimation methods (e.g. data, equations and emissions factors) are consistently applied. This project will provide, and regularly update, a guide on existing standards, protocols, methods and metrics for GHG accounting, for a range of GHG accounting purposes. This ‘living’ resource will be a reliable and central source of information for producers to access and confidently implement on their farms.

Zero Net Emissions Agriculture CRC acknowledges the traditional Owners of the lands on which we live and work and pay our respect to Elders past and present.

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