Pilot carbon accounting workshops

Summary

The red meat industry has set a goal to become carbon neutral by 2030 (CN30) to meet consumer and community expectations, ensure market access in the future and utilise technologies that deliver economic, environmental and social benefits.

This project addressed greenhouse gas (GHG) measurement, accounting and reporting (MAR) at the enterprise scale by working with beef and sheep producers to develop baseline carbon accounts. An improved accuracy and understanding of farm carbon accounting are essential steps in working towards achieving carbon neutrality within the industry and the information is also a useful benchmarking tool for producers.

A Carbon Accounting Technical Manual was produced for the workshop attendees, which includes information on livestock related GHG emissions, a step by step guide detailing how to complete a carbon account for a beef and/or sheep enterprise using the sheep and beef greenhouse accounting framework (SB-GAF) tool, farm carbon accounting example scenarios, tree and soil carbon storage on farm, opportunities to reduce GHG emissions and opportunities to store carbon to offset emissions.

Objectives

This project had the following objectives: 

• conduct pilot workshops across Australia to help producers develop a carbon account and inform development of carbon accounting training resources for producers
• develop forest and soil carbon stock maps for participants’ properties prior to workshop
• produce a technical booklet/manual for wider industry use based on workshop findings/feedback and case studies developed by MLA.

Key findings

• Many producers were interested in the carbon accounting process, particularly establishing a baseline carbon account and identifying next steps to reduce emissions on farm, store carbon and understand the steps involved in the certification process. 
• The accuracy of the SB-GAF is highly dependent on the quality of the data and the precision of input. Continued work and improvements on the SB-GAF tool and producer training and awareness are required to allow for improved accuracy in farm carbon accounting. 
• Basing the carbon account on a ‘normal year’ or taking an average across 2-3 years was found to improve the representativeness of the findings and to reduce the impact of unusual seasonal conditions, particularly the severe drought experienced recently in much of Australia.

Benefits to industry

This project will provide ongoing benefits to both producers and the wider industry as improved accuracy and understanding of farm carbon accounting are essential steps in working towards achieving carbon neutrality. A Carbon Accounting Technical Manual has been developed to assist with use of SB-GAF.

MLA action

MLA is building on the results of this project to develop an online e-learning platform to make the SB-GAF tool and information more user friendly for producers.

Future research

Continued work with producers at the enterprise level to build knowledge and skills surrounding farm GHGs and carbon accounting are essential steps in working towards carbon neutrality at the industry scale.

Modifications to, and updating of, the SB-GAF GHG tool will allow for improved accuracy in farm carbon accounting.