Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Bill 2011 — In Committee — Excluded offsets projects

This division relates to the Policy For carbon farming.

The majority voted against amendments introduced by Independent Senator Nick Xenophon, which means that they were unsuccessful.

The amendment would have added to the list of excluded offsets projects under the bill to include projects that were:

• "established as, or as part of, a managed investment scheme; or"
• "determined ... to have an adverse impact on: (i) the availability of water; or (ii) land and resource access for agricultural production".(Read the entirety of the proposed amendments here.

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The dispute surrounding these amendments is that they would require assessment on an individual basis, as opposed to the broader approach favoured by the Labor Government.(See the debate on these amendments here, after 10:22 am. )

Background to the bills

The Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Bill 2011 was introduced with two other bills to establish a voluntary carbon offset scheme, to be called the Carbon Farming Initiative.(The three related bills are the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Bill 2011, the Carbon Credits (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2011 and the Australian National Registry of Emissions Units Bill 2011. ) Introducing this scheme was a Government election commitment. The Initiative will be "a voluntary scheme that aims to provide incentives for the agricultural and forestry sectors to minimise carbon emissions or maximise carbon sequestration by altering their forestry and agricultural practices".(Read more in the bills digest. ) The objectives of this scheme are:

• to implement certain commitments Australia has under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol to it
• to create incentives for carbon-abatement projects
• to increase carbon abatement while still protecting Australia’s natural environment and enhancing resilience to climate change impacts.(Read more in the bills digest.)