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frequently asked questions |
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| Who is Carbon Neutral Ltd? |
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| Carbon Neutral was registered as a company limited by guarantee in April 2007. Carbon Neutral was launched in 2001 as a branch of Men of The Trees, Western Australia, who still have a controlling interest. Carbon Neutral remains a ‘not for profit’ organisation and any financial surplus is committed to environmental outcomes. |
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| Where does Carbon Neutral operate? |
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| Carbon Neutral’s head office is in Perth, Western Australia, with representation in Adelaide, South Australia with Trees for Life. Trees are currently planted in the regional areas of WA and SA with operations planned to extend to other Australian States. |
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| Who are Carbon Neutral’s clients? |
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| Carbon Neutral has clients from all over Australia and also overseas, including individuals, households, businesses, and large organisations such as mining companies and government bodies. |
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| What do I get when I offset with Carbon Neutral? |
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| You are making a tax deductible donation and some small items will be provided depending on what you are offsetting, including vehicle bumper stickers, baggage tags, fridge magnets and certificates. In addition, anyone can receive the Carbon Neutral e-newsletter, which is produced bi monthly. You can register online or ask a staff member to add your email address to the list. |
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| Can I pay on a regular basis? |
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| Yes, you can have payments debited from your Credit Card monthly or quarterly. Please ask our friendly staff to forward you a periodical payment authority. |
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| As of April 2008 Carbon Neutral directly employs 6 full time equivalent staff in WA, and one in SA. Various individuals and organisations are contracted to provide technical support, seedlings and field services. |
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How much of my donation will actually be used to plant trees? |
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Of the price charged, about 70% goes into establishing and maintaining tree plantings, including:
- Site selection
- Seedlings
- Site preparation and planting
- Farmer incentive payments
- Site coordination, mapping, sequestration estimation
- Covenanting & carbon rights registration process
- Monitoring
The other 30% is for the essential tasks of:
- Marketing
- Administration
- Record keeping
- Carbon and financial accounting
- Emissions estimation
- Website updates and provision of information to clients |
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| Methodology used to calculate carbon emissions? |
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| The Australian Greenhouse Office Factors and Methods Workbook 2006 is the basis for most of our calculators. In addition there are papers from the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), and the ‘Comprehensive calculator (GHG calc) background paper’ (Rose, 2006) which is available online. We will update to use the National Greenhouse Accounts (NGA) Factors, which was finalised by the Department of Climate Change in January 2008. |
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| Are the projects realised by Carbon Neutral or a third party? |
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| Carbon Neutral plantings are managed by Men of the Trees in WA and Trees for Life in SA. Qualified contractors and farmers are paid to prepare, plant and maintain sites. |
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| Do you apply any formally approved standards? |
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| Yes, plantings are conducted according to best practice and the Oil Mallee Code of Practice (WA only). Plantings comply with international Kyoto standards. |
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| Is there a verification process? |
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| Donations made to Carbon Neutral are for planting trees in the year that the donation is made or the following year if all trees are sold. This is distinct from the federal government scheme ‘Greenhouse Friendly’, because verification can only occur on established forests, for the purpose of creating carbon credits. Carbon Neutral intends to create a small number of Greenhouse Friendly projects and to provide this service to clients who wish to invest in future carbon credits. Please see the Product Statement. |
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| Where does Carbon Neutral plant trees? |
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| Plantings are primarily on farms in the 350- 450 mm rainfall ‘wheat belt’ regions of Western Australia and in the Mallee and Murray Darling basin in South Australia. There are also plantings on in the higher rainfall South West. |
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| What is the cost to offset 1 tonne of CO2e? |
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| Price per tonne of CO2e for organisations offsetting more than 20 tonnes CO2 is $18 and for individuals it is $19. Please see the Product Statement for full details. |
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| What are ‘verified abatements'? |
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This is a term for a government accredited reduction of man-made CO2 and other greenhouse gases (CO2e). For example, carbon abatements can be created by:
- reducing emissions eg. renewable energy
- storing carbon eg. in a forest.
In Australia, there are two government accreditation schemes:
- Federal: Department of Climate Change Greenhouse Friendly
- NSW: Greenhouse Gas Abatement Scheme.
One verified abatement or credit is one tonne of CO2 equivalent or CO2e. |
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| Does Carbon Neutral sell abatements? |
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| Carbon Neutral does not create abatement at this stage, though we may broker verified abatement. Clients who want to offset emissions with Carbon Neutral should read the Product Statement which explains that trees take time to grow and sequester (store) carbon. |
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| What should people look for when choosing an offset provider? |
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The first decision is whether you wish to offset emissions over time through tree plantings or whether to purchase abatement that has already been created and certified by a Government scheme (tradeable abatement).
Questions you may wish to ask.
Do I want to support:
- Creating new biodiverse carbon forest sinks
- Funding established projects
Is the Provider:
- Not for profit?
- Experienced and transparent about their activities?
- Provides a clear Product Statement?
- Guarantees that there is no ‘double-selling’?
- Provide information on ways to reduce your emissions?
- Implementing risk management strategies?
- Legally protecting forestry projects for at least 70 years?
- Providing multiple environmental outcomes with their product e.g. biodiversity, salinity, soil erosion |
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| What is the difference between Carbon Neutral & other carbon offset providers? |
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| Carbon Neutral is a reputable not for profit organisation that was formed by Men of the Trees as a way to get more trees planted in WA. Men of the Trees (WA) and Trees For Life (SA) have over 30 years experience in revegetation in each state and are dedicated to multiple environmental outcomes for all projects. |
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| How many trees are required to sequester 1 tonne of CO2? |
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| We currently plant an average of 6-7 trees per tonne. In the 350-450 mm rainfall area of WA, we estimate the number of trees required per tonne of CO2 varies from 4 – 10 depending on location, species of tree, soil type and type of planting. If we could plant karri trees in 1000mm rainfall areas, it could be more than a tonne of CO2 per tree! |
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| Will we run out of places to plant trees? |
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| Of the Western Australian Avon Catchment’s 11.8 million hectares, we understand that 8.4 million are cleared. Current thought is that at least 10% of the landscape needs to be replanted to woody perennials to balance regional groundwater tables. At an average of 1,250 trees per hectare that means 1.5 billion seedlings need to be planted in the Avon alone. |
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| How do I know Carbon Neutral’s trees will remain healthy? |
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Seedlings are all planted according to the Carbon Neutral Charter and the Oil Mallee Code of Practice (WA only). All plantings are overseen by qualified Men of the Trees (MOTT) or Trees for Life (TFL) staff using either approved planting contractors or managed MOTT or TFL volunteers. Carbon Neutral ensures that infill plantings are
conducted as required during the first two years. All plantings are documented, managed and regularly monitored by qualified staff. |
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| How do I know that the CO2 will not be returned to the atmosphere if the plantings die or are cleared? |
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| All planting sites will have carbon rights and covenants registered to ensure that they remain under trees for at least 100 years. The requirement for the Department of Climate Change’s Greenhouse Friendly standard is 70 years and this is considered sufficient to ensure that the sites will remain under trees for perpetuity. Clearing or killing of the trees is forbidden by the carbon covenants. These are registered on the land title and remain for 100 years even if the property changes ownership. Carbon Neutral aims for at least 80% survival. In some cases, infill planting or re-planting will be done. Thereafter, annual monitoring is done. |
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| Isn’t CO2 returned to the atmosphere when trees are burned and when they die and decay? |
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| Yes, but this release is temporary. Fires happen naturally in native forests. The native tree species that Carbon Neutral plants are fire and drought tolerant and If burned they will rapidly re-sprout and return to an equilibrium for that community. As trees grow, they take in CO2 through their leaves from the atmosphere. The oxygen (O2) is given out by the leaves, back into the atmosphere. The carbon (C) is fixed in their roots, stems and branches and also in the soil as decayed litter and dead roots accumulate as humus. As trees die, they will be replaced by natural regeneration from seed or roots or, in the case of commercial plantations, infill planting or coppice. Eventually (after about 200 years for typical Australian hardwood forests), some CO2 is released back into the atmosphere as dead biomass that decays or is burned equals that taken up by living or regenerating trees. At this point the site has taken up its maximum possible amount of carbon and net uptake of CO2 ceases. |
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| What happens to the trees after the 100 year covenant expires? |
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| It is not possible to say with certainty what will happen, but the intention is for the sites to remain under trees for perpetuity. Only sites that the landholder wishes to remain under trees in perpetuity and that are strategically located according to a farm plan are planted. The carbon that has been sold to offset clients’ emissions is registered as being acquitted, so this amount of carbon from the sites cannot be sold in the future. |
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| Can my contribution to a Carbon Neutral carbon pool be sold? |
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| No. Once the trees are planted, the estimated amount of CO2 to be offset is registered as acquitted. Your contribution is not a tradable commodity. |
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| Are Carbon Neutral's carbon offsets tax deductible? |
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| Why do some organizations price their carbon offsets per tree and others per tonne CO2? |
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| Initially, some organizations sold trees as this was thought to be easier for clients to visualize than tonnes of CO2. However, in reality the number of trees per tonne of CO2 offset varies depending on factors such as climate, rainfall, species and soil type, so the only realistic way to price CO2 offsets is per tonne. |
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What about the trees that Carbon Neutral offer for Land Rehabilitation? |
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Some organisations wish to donate trees to help the environment, rather than offset emissions. These trees are allocated to sites where they will provide multiple environmental benefits and sequestration is of secondary importance.
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| Why does Carbon Neutral have more than one type of planting? |
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Carbon Neutral will plant both biodiverse plantings and oil mallees. Either of these may also have significant additional environmental benefits, in addition to carbon sequestration outcomes.
For more information please refer to the Product Statement available online at www.carbonneutral.com.au or on request. |
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