Our Projects

Supporting 100% Australian projects

Building a greener Australia for our future generations

Across Australia, farmers, Traditional Owners and other land managers are doing the hard work of capturing or reducing carbon emissions by adapting how they manage the land. They are real climate heroes that we support through our projects.

There are four types of carbon projects that Go Neutral supports.

Regeneration Projects
Protection Projects
Savanna Burning Projects
Soil Projects

Here’s what they are and how they work:

Regeneration Projects

These work to regenerate native vegetation on land that has become degraded – often through overgrazing or clearing. These projects involve working with farmers to change land management practices to allow native vegetation to regrow. They also incorporate a commitment from the farmer to maintain the regenerated forest or bushlands for up to 100 years.

Changes in land management often include installing new fencing so that livestock can be moved around instead of being allowed to overgraze certain areas, installing water points across farms to encourage livestock and wildlife to move more widely and graze less intensively, and in some cases humanely managing feral animal populations so that they don’t destroy emerging regrowth.

Regenerating
landscapes like the one on the right, gradually regain groundcover (grasses)
and can feature juvenile bushes and trees as well as new shoots.

Regeneration projects have multiple benefits for the land, native species and regional communities.

The Land – increased vegetation improves the overall health of the land. Vegetated land is better able to absorb and retain moisture, which makes it more resilient in the face of drought and able to bounce back better after challenging conditions. Increased vegetation also prevents erosion and the runoff of sediment into waterways.

Native Species – regeneration projects regrow native species rather than plant new species, so they help increase stocks of uniquely Australian trees and bushes including eucalypts, mulgas, bloodwood trees and many others. The regenerated forests and bushlands become home to native wildlife, creating important wildlife corridors and supporting some threatened or vulnerable species.

Regional Communities – the money that flows back to the farmers for their regenerative work often gets reinvested back into the land, paying for fencing, firebreaks and other farming infrastructure. Local businesses and contractors are often employed to do these works and jobs are also created as a result.

Protection Projects

These projects ensure that important areas of native forest are protected from clearing.

Australia has lost 40-50% of its forests since European colonisation, and today, is the only OECD country in the world’s top 10 land clearing nations.

Protection projects involve working with farmers to identify areas of land that have been cleared in the past and are at risk of being cleared in the future, and ensuring that a new cycle of clearing does not take place. Farmers have to commit to not clearing the land for between 25-100 years, ensuring these native forests are maintained as important carbon sinks and as habitat for native species including koalas.

SAVANNAH BURNING PROJECTS

These projects involve working with Indigenous Elders in the Savannas of Northern Australia to carry out traditional firestick farming. Firestick farming has been practised by Aboriginal communities for tens of thousands of years. It improves the health of the land by setting cool burns (or spot fires) with small, controlled flames during the early, cool dry season. This avoids the build up of vegetation that can fuel large uncontrolled wildfires in the hotter months and reduces carbon emissions because smaller, cooler fires emit fewer emissions than large, hotter wildfires.These projects also deliver multiple benefits by supressing weeds and improving conditions for native wildlife, plants and grasses. It’s also used to improve cultural access to Country and creates job opportunities for Indigenous rangers.

SOIL PROJECTS

These projects seek to address changes in soil quality that have been brought about by the introduction of livestock, hooved animals and intensive farming practices, which European settlers introduced to Australia. These practices have depleted the carbon that is naturally stored in soil, releasing it into the atmosphere as CO2. Soil projects involve changing land management practices to reduce soil disturbance and return important nutrients to the land. This can include seeding new pasture, modifying the landscape, or redistributing soil with a view to improving the health and resilience of the soil.

Some of our projects

REVIVING NATIVE HABITAT IN QLD

Sitting on ancient land within Queensland’s Great Barrier Reef catchment area, this Catchment Conservation Alliance project is regenerating 2,300 hectares of native forest on land that’s historically been cleared for pasture.

REPAIRING RANGELANDS IN WA

In the vast rangelands of Western Australia, this project is regenerating over 37,000 hectares of native forest and shrublands in a region historically recognised for spectacular wildflowers and abundant birdlife.