WWF-Australia has welcomed the announcement that Australian Greens Senators will allow the Improved Native Forest Management Method (INFM) to proceed, describing it as a critical step towards ending native forest logging.
Today's announcement by Senator Larrisa Waters provides a pathway to protect native forests and threatened species and stop timber harvesting in NSW public native forests.
INFM was developed by leading scientists and approved by the Australian and NSW Governments. It enables state and territory governments to generate carbon credits for the forest areas they save.
The Greens have come to an agreement with the Australian Government to make several improvements to the INFM scheme, including establishing a legal precedent against coal and gas using offsets to avoid emissions reduction. This will give legal backing to any state government commitments preventing coal and gas companies from accessing credits generated under the scheme.
The agreement will also accelerate the rate of forest protection, increasing required logging reductions from 20% to 25% for projects registered from 2028 and 30% for projects registered after 2030.
"We applaud the Greens, crossbench and Australian and NSW government leaders who have shown courage and persistence to achieve this outcome," said WWF-Australia's CEO Dermot O'Gorman.
"This method, whilst not perfect, is our best chance to protect and restore Australia's remaining forests.
"It will enable publicly owned forests to earn revenue from carbon credits by leaving trees standing.
"It's an important financial lever for the NSW Government to now gazette the Great Koala National Park, commit to ending logging of State Forests and support timber workers, First Nations and regional communities in the creation of new jobs and livelihoods.
"These forests are too valuable to cut down. They are homes for koalas, greater gliders and other threatened species, they hold deep cultural significance for First Nations peoples, they are part of the climate solution, and part of the future we want for our children.
Mr O'Gorman said WWF-Australia would continue to engage on reforms to climate policies such as the safeguard mechanism to ensure forest carbon credits have the highest integrity possible.
"The NSW Government made a welcome commitment that credits generated through the Great Koala National Park will not be sold to coal and gas companies. That has now led to a federal legal precedent to stop coal and gas accessing credits generated under the scheme," said Mr O'Gorman.
"This is an important precedent and a clear signal to all governments that forest carbon credits must not prop up polluting fossil fuel industries and should only be sold to companies with credible transition plans.
"Carbon credits should not only be generated with integrity but also sold with integrity."
