Farmers should earn carbon credits for bushland they preserve or new trees they plant on their properties with an auction system similar to eBay put in place for them to sell the credits, according to an ecologist at The Australian National University.

The system would reward farmers for planting and conserving native bush on their properties and provide a source of carbon credits for companies and individuals seeking to offset their greenhouse gas emissions, Dr Philip Gibbons from the Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies, said.

“In the same way that organisations like CO2 Group Ltd and Greenfleet provide a service to offset carbon emissions, every farmer who plants and protects vegetation in the long-term sequesters CO2 from the atmosphere,” Dr Gibbons said. “The only difference is that most farmers don’t get paid for providing this service.”

Trees and shrubs store the carbon from atmosphere in their leaves, branches and roots. Provided they are protected in the long-term, these trees and shrubs are sequestering carbon from the atmosphere. The main barrier to farmers gaining a carbon credit from planting, or protecting, vegetation is not a lack of demand for carbon, but the lack of a suitable system for trading it, Dr Gibbons said.

“Because most farmers individually sequester small amounts of carbon relative to the total market then they are not yet seen as a viable source for carbon credits. However, a system in which farmers can themselves place, on an open market, the CO2 they sequester would be relatively easy to develop.

“Farmers would place their carbon credits on this single desk, which would be accessible to all farmers. Buyers, whether they’re individuals wanting to offset their car’s CO2 emissions, companies required to offset emissions under existing carbon trading schemes or organisations just seeking to be good corporate citizens, then bid for this carbon.”

The competition between the farmers to sell their carbon credits could spark some innovative marketing, Dr Gibbons said. “Some buyers may be attracted to a project designed to provide habitat for a threatened species as well as carbon credits. Stuck to the fridge next to the photo of a child sponsored through World Vision could be a photo of a patch of bush sponsored through carbon trading. Discounts might be provided to buyers who’ll assist in establishing or maintaining the vegetation that provides their carbon offset.”

Local governments, community groups and even schools could become carbon credit farmers under such a scheme.

Though a number aspects of the system would need to be considered carefully before it got underway, by providing demand for planting and protecting native vegetation, a system of carbon trading would not only have positive spin-offs for biodiversity, water quality and salinity control, but native vegetation is a drought resistant crop that would give farmers an alternative source of income, Dr Gibbons said.

More information: Amanda Morgan, ANU Media Office, 02 6125 5575 / 0416 249 245