Soil Carbon Projects
A pathway to sustainability, global agricultural productivity, and meaningful climate action
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31273/eirj.v13i1.1764Keywords:
Sustainability culture index, soil carbon, ACCU, carbon removal, soil carbon sequestrationAbstract
The Australian 2021 Soil Carbon Method (2021 Method) enables drawdown of atmospheric carbon dioxide to soil. The 2021 Method creates a basis for project development and a market for trade in soil carbon Australian Carbon Credit Units. Standardised measurement, innovation in farm management, and monetary incentives are keys to its success. This paper reports on the early successes of industry participants. Soil carbon markets are an emerging paradigm in sustainability culture. Official and private sources are used to tabulate data from the first projects to earn soil carbon credits under the ACCU (Australian Carbon Credit Unit) Scheme. A new index of sustainability culture, Soil Carbon Effective Sustainability Culture Index (SCESCI), measured in years, is presented. Globally, over 150 Gigatonnes of soil carbon has been lost from agricultural soils. Replacing this carbon pool would draw down much of the current excess of atmospheric carbon. The related step-change increase in agricultural productivity is significant to global security in a changing world. Monitoring SCESCI at national and regional levels is a success indicator for required transformative change with speed and scale.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Duncan Farquhar, Zoe Maskell, Melanie Addinsall, Andrew Bremner, Matthew Warnken
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