New tool makes carbon credit calculations much easier
New tool makes carbon credit calculations much easier
20 June 2013
published by www.abc.net.au
Australia — Charles Darwin University’s Centre of Bushfire Research has today launched an online tool to make calculating carbon credits much easier.
It’s good news for Indigenous land owners and pastoralists, who up until now have had trouble with the complex systems to work out the carbon credit value of their fire management efforts.
Research Fellow, Dr Andrew Edwards, says the Savanna Burning Abatement Tool, or SavBAT, is going to completely change the way carbon calculations are done.
“This is a web based tool and all you have to do is put in a little map of your area, showing the vegetation, and it’ll calculate all your greenhouse gas emissions abatement.
“It’s a revolution.. you’ll have a project ID, you’ll upload your veg map and then a PDF comes out with all of the answers,” he said.
Development of the SavBAT has been funded by the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency and Dr Edwards says it should remove previous prohibitive costs.
“It was really hard for anyone to do, other than a few very saavy consultants. There’s probably a $30,000 saving in that calculation each year for every given project that could occur in northern Australia.”
The tool’s development comes after Fish River Station recently sold over half a million dollars worth of fire carbon credits to Caltex.
Dr Edwards says his team worked on developing SavBAT with Indigenous groups in western Arnhem Land.
“They’re abating well over 100,000 tonnes per year, Fish River was about 12,000 (tonnes).
“So you’re talking 9 to 10 times as much money that a place like west Arnhem Land could be getting,” he said.
