AFPA has echoed serious concerns raised by Forestry Australia over the Federal Government's controversial new carbon credit method, warning it undermines the integrity and credibility of Australia's carbon market.
Forestry Australia has identified significant technical flaws in the new Improved Native Forest Management in Multiple-use Public Native Forests Method (INFM), with its forest carbon experts warning it could substantially overstate carbon abatement.
The latest analysis also shows the method could over-credit projects by between 40 and 100 per cent, even before accounting for carbon leakage and harvested wood products.
AFPA Acting CEO Richard Hyett said the alarming independent research reinforced concerns the sustainable forest products industry had been raising for more than 18 months.
"As we have highlighted on several occasions, this method does not meet the Australian Carbon Credit Unit (ACCU) scheme's own requirements for integrity, transparency or additionality," Mr Hyett said.
"The decision to register the method clearly prioritised politics over science and will damage public confidence in the integrity and transparency of the scheme."
Mr Hyett said the method would generate carbon credits without delivering genuine additional emissions reductions and relied on science that had been challenged by independent experts and government scientists.
"We are very concerned the new method could flood the market with low-integrity ACCUs, undermining confidence in legitimate carbon projects and weakening investment in genuine climate action.
"Australia's carbon credit scheme is designed to encourage real carbon abatement and high-integrity environmental outcomes, and it's important the scheme remains focused on delivering genuine emissions reductions rather than being used to retrospectively fund policy decisions.
"Our carbon credit scheme is a critical part of Australia's framework to meet net zero ambitions and it's vital that its integrity is maintained to deliver genuine carbon abatement."
