A new cross-sectoral initiative is underway to develop a solution that enables Australian farmers to understand their enterprise’s carbon footprint and make better informed decisions to reduce emissions and capture new opportunities.
Announced at the ABARES Outlook 2023 conference by Agricultural Innovation Australia (AIA), the collaboration across agriculture, fisheries and forestry will undertake a large-scale deep-dive into relative commodity supply chains, which will support the development of a whole-of-industry carbon footprint solution.
AIA is a not-for-profit public company established by Australia’s Rural Research and Development Corporations (RDCs) to facilitate joint investment and collaboration in cross-sectoral agricultural issues of national importance.
The Know & Show Your Carbon Footprint initiative will see the development of an easy to access cross-commodity platform that will help growers to have a better understanding of baseline carbon emissions and the residual footprint for their entire enterprise.
Access to this information can support growers with market access and carbon market opportunities, and provide increased confidence when dealing with stakeholders, including financial institutions, around natural capital and asset management.
Twelve RDCs, including Hort Innovation, are participating in the discovery phase of Know & Show Your Carbon Footprint, which aims to deepen AIA’s understanding of the current gaps, pain points, and specific needs of the growers, commercial players and solution providers across the different commodities. The insights gathered will provide clearly defined and validated objectives, and help identify the capability and partners needed to deliver on them.
The end focus is a common and standardised carbon accounting framework which will enable growers to identify ways to reduce the carbon footprint of their enterprise.
The initiative has already garnered interest from the private sector, including supply chain organisations and commercial providers.
