Co-benefits are the additional outcomes from carbon projects that benefit society more broadly. They can include environmental benefits, social benefits and economic opportunities. They’re important because we know carbon projects can deliver these types of benefits and valuing them can bring carbon projects that are strong in co-benefits to market earlier, before the carbon price needs to rise to make them economically viable.
Valuing co-benefits increases the value of carbon projects that are delivering those benefits, and that’s the core concept of the Land Restoration Fund. The Priority Investment Plan and Co-benefit Standard set out the rules and priorities for Land Restoration Fund investment in co-benefit producing projects.
The first place to go when you’re thinking about applying is to those documents. Think about the assets you have on your land and in your broader community in relation to the eligibility set out in the Standard.
If you’re thinking about applying to the Land Restoration Fund for a commercial project where we’ll be purchasing carbon credits and co-benefits from you, you need to consider the information in the Land Restoration Fund’s Priority Investment Plan, and especially in the eligibility criteria for co-benefit classes that are set-out in our Co-benefit Standard.
Which co-benefits you can offer to sell to us depends on the assets you have on your property and the situation in your region. For example, if you want to verify a co-benefit for threatened eco-systems, you need to have threatened eco-systems on your property and they need to improve in condition through your carbon farming activities.
Co-benefits are a new concept, especially as they’re being framed by the Land Restoration Fund, so it’s not a simple thing to decide on what they’re worth. As the market develops and we see more rounds run by the LRF, that will become clearer. But for now, we’re recommending people think about the cost of delivering a carbon project with co-benefits as their best guide to the price they need to ask to be paid for those co-benefits, to make sure they not risking their financial well-being by entering into these projects.
There are two pathways under the Co-benefit Standard for verification of co-benefits. There’s a lower-cost pathway, which we call Proponent Assurance, and that involves annual reports explaining what you’ve done in your project and how it’s delivered the co-benefit.
The alternative is what we call Third-party Assurance, which uses independent assurance pathways to demonstrate that the co-benefit has been delivered. There are some types of co-benefits that require Third-party Assurance, and that’s particularly the case where there’s not a clear connection between the co-benefit being verified and the activities that are required under the carbon project.
The first Co-benefit Standard for the Land Restoration Fund uses the Accounting for Nature Framework as the environmental approach for third-party assurance and uses the Aboriginal Carbon Foundation’s Core Benefits Standard as the third-party approach for social and economic and First Nations co-benefits. Projects engage with those independent parties, develop accounts or develop core benefit statements to demonstrate to us that those co-benefits are being delivered. That’s how they’re verified, and we’ll then pay on delivery for those co-benefits.
For more information, visit the Land Restoration Fund website.
Co-benefits are the additional positive environmental, socio-economic and First Nations outcomes delivered by carbon farming projects. They derive from specified changes to land management or business practices that deliver real improvements in the condition of the environment, or measurable social outcomes such as new jobs or expenditure in local economies.
The Land Restoration Fund (LRF) invests in Queensland carbon farming projects that:
generate Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs), and
Co-benefits need to be in addition to the benefits produced by a business-as-usual scenario, meaning that they would not have occurred if it wasn’t for the carbon farming project. Co-benefits need to satisfy eligibility criteria and must be reported and verified before they are accepted.
The LRF has established its own Co-benefits Standard (PDF, 2.1 MB)
to ensure LRF projects have a strong evidence-base for measuring, reporting and verifying co-benefits.
LRF projects may seek to claim co-benefits from one of more of the following co-benefit categories:
Environmental – Co-benefits for the environment, such as improved biodiversity and habitat for threatened species, as well as healthier soils, wetlands, and water systems.
Socio-economic – Co-benefits that improve the resilience and strength of regional communities by supporting direct and indirect employment and skills and increasing economic opportunities.
First Nations – Co-benefits that provide on-Country business opportunities and new service delivery businesses for First Nations people, as well as supporting cultural and customary connections.
Why co-benefits?
Co-benefits are a major focus in carbon markets and, where demonstrated, can increase the value of the carbon credit to which they are attached.
The LRF is using co-benefits as the key driver to attract well-designed carbon farming projects. These projects will incentivise sustainable land and agricultural management practices and deliver on many priorities that might otherwise involve multiple sources of public and private investment.
In the case of carbon projects that may not be financially viable on the basis of carbon abatement alone (i.e. the carbon price does not cover the project costs) the valuing, quantifying and pricing of the co-benefits associated with the carbon project may improve project feasibility.
How are co-benefits verified?
The co-benefits generated by an LRF project need to be verified to provide assurance that they are genuine. The level of verification information required for each LRF project depends on the carbon farming method used and the specific LRF co-benefits being claimed, as detailed in the LRF Co-benefits Standard (PDF, 2.1 MB)
.
LRF projects may verify co-benefits using either:
Proponent assurance – Co-benefits are verified based on annual reporting of basic information and photo points to the LRF.
This option is only available for carbon methods assessed as having clear links to specific co-benefits. Please refer to the LRF Co-benefits Standard (PDF, 2.1 MB)
for more information.
Third party assurance – Co-benefits are verified based on evidence certified by an approved third-party framework, with reports provided to the LRF.
Project proponents are required to use the version of the Co-benefits Standard that is current at the time their project is contracted (rather than at the time it is registered). This allows for projects to not be unduly disadvantaged due to any updates made to the LRF Co-benefits Standard between contracting and registration.
The LRF is willing to pay a premium price for ACCUs from projects that deliver LRF co-benefits. The Investment Panel will consider the value for money of each project proposal with respect to the co-benefits it will deliver, when making investment decisions. The Investment Panel will use a range of information sources when determining value for money, including reasonable project and opportunity costs, ecosystem services value, and the known cost of delivering outcomes via other traditional funding mechanisms.
As part of the LRF’s public reporting, verified co-benefits from all funded projects will be published on the LRF Register and statistics from previous Investment Rounds published on the Investment Rounds Report. Funded projects can use this information to engage with the broader market if they wish to sell their uncontracted ACCUs as products from a carbon farming project with verified co-benefits.
Which co-benefits would be suitable for my property?
Landholders can use CSIRO’s LOOC-C tool to understand which co-benefits could flow from a carbon project on their property and the types of activities needed to deliver them. More co-benefit scoping tools, including mapping, reference and assurance tools, are available on the How to determine co-benefit eligibility page.
