Last month I asked Minister Hunt and Senator Birmingham the following –

Dear Minister Hunt and Senator Birmingham,

With reference to this website of the Clean Energy Regulator –

I downloaded the csv file Register of Offsets Projects (CSV 86 KB) – and found 117 projects across Australia.

Can you please tell me what Commonwealth money has been expended on these projects to date ? Feel free to break down the amount re the previous Government vs the current Government – or any other breakdown like financial years – if that suits you.

I would also appreciate seeing an itemisation for the States and in the case of NSW I hope to see the amounts spent on individual projects.
Looking forward to seeing how much Commonwealth money is being spent on these carbon offset projects.

The reply just came in from the Senator –

I refer to your email of 14 April 2014 concerning carbon offsets projects and Commonwealth expenditure.

The Australian Government’s Carbon Farming Initiative (CFI) provides economic rewards for farmers and landholders who take steps to reduce emissions or store carbon in land. Under the CFI, they can earn credits that can be sold to businesses wanting to offset their carbon emissions. Thus far, more than four million credits have been issued under the CFI. The Australian Government’s planned Emissions Reduction Fund will build on the CFI by expanding its coverage beyond the land sector to incentivise emissions reductions from across the economy.

The Register of Offsets Projects managed by the Clean Energy Regulator provides details on approved projects under the CFI and the number of credits issued to them for their emissions reduction or sequestration project. The Government does not fund CFI projects. The costs involved in undertaking a project are met by the proponent.

However, the credits earned by the project proponent can then be sold to businesses wanting to offset their emissions.

The CFI also provides a number of co-benefits, such as increasing resilience to the impacts of climate change, protecting our natural environment, and increasing farm productivity and food production. For example, revegetation helps restore degraded landscapes, provides biodiversity habitats and corridors, and in some cases may help to address salinity, protect livestock and reduce erosion.

Thank you for taking the time to write on this matter.

My previous articles re carbon farming are under the Resources category