For the second year in a row, ICIN was pleased to submit a chapter to the annual Carbon Market Institute (CMI) and Westpac Carbon Market Report on the State of the Indigenous Carbon Industry.
Read the full report here on the CMI website. ICIN's chapter is below:
Industry snapshot
- 10 million Indigenous Carbon Credit issued and much more
There are currently 39 Indigenous-owned and operated carbon projects across Australia - 34 savanna fire management projects and five human-induced regeneration (HIR) projects. These projects cover 24m hectares, and annually generate 1.2 million tonnes of carbon emissions reductions and are valued at an estimated $60 million.
In 2024, Indigenous-owned carbon projects were issued their 10 millionth credit and 17 of the 34 Indigenous-owned savanna fire management carbon projects reached ten-year operating milestones.
There are now 46 savanna fire management projects that have been operating for ten years or more cover 175,000 km2 of landscape across the north of Australia, with Indigenous projects accounting for 70% of this area[1].
These long-term savanna fire management projects have successfully reduced total project areas burnt by 10%[2]. This means that across these 46 projects there is now on average 17,500 km2 of Country that is unburnt each year that would otherwise have been burnt.
These projects have significantly changed fire management practices, reducing late-season fires by 70% in favour of early-season cool burns, and are transforming how Country is cared for, minimising habitat disturbance, and drastically cutting smoke and greenhouse gas emissions. Human-induced regeneration (HIR) projects involve active land management practices and initiatives that results in carbon stored in project areas.
Indigenous carbon credits provide a vital source of independent revenue for Indigenous organisations. This funding supports the future of carbon projects, sustains fire management programs, and creates meaningful employment for Indigenous people on Country. It also enables investment in cultural education and community development, strengthening both communities and landscapes for generations to come.
"Fire burning has been a practice we have been doing for many years. Burning helps us show our skills that have been handed down for our generations. It helps us keep our culture strong, keep our Country clean, and helps feed our plants and our wildlife. It helps merge the old techniques and modern techniques. It helps two different worlds come together as one,” Bobby Bowie, Ranger, Batavia Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation.
Indigenous rights and interests to land, sea, and carbon
- Indigenous groups are key decision-makers in the carbon industry
While much of the existing Indigenous-led carbon activity is in the savanna region, over 75% of the land where Indigenous people hold legal rights and interests to carbon lies elsewhere.
Analysis conducted by the Indigenous Carbon Indigenous Industry Network (ICIN) underscores the scale of Indigenous rights to carbon, revealing that Indigenous people hold either a legal right or an ‘eligible interest’[3] over 60% of Australia’s land and 66% of its coastline. A further 11% of land is currently under native title claim, awaiting a decision to be made by the Federal Court as to the area’s native title status (refer to figure 1.1).
Under ACCU Scheme legislation[4], Indigenous people may hold both legal rights and eligible interests in land that a project is to run on. Importantly, if native title holders have an eligible interest, a carbon project cannot receive ACCUs unless native title holders provide consent.
This has major implications for the future of carbon projects in Australia. It confirms that Indigenous people are placed to lead the carbon industry by managing country the right way using knowledge and practices that have been used for tens of thousands of years.
As new carbon methods emerge and the Nature Repair Market gains traction, it is critical that those working across the carbon market value chain understand that Indigenous groups are not just stakeholders- they are key decision-makers.
Government reiterates importance of the right to Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) for carbon projects
- Long-term funding for ICIN for implementation of FPIC still lacking
It is well-established that best practice in the carbon industry requires project proponents to enact the principles of FPIC when running a project on land subject to native title. This means that developers must take time to understand who can speak for Country and that these groups have the time, information, and resources to make decisions. Experience of our members to date demonstrates that projects succeed when they are formed based on the principles of FPIC.
In his address at the 7th North Australia Savanna Fire Forum (the Forum) in February 2025, the Assistant Minister for Climate Change, the Hon Josh Wilson MP reaffirmed the government’s commitment to FPIC, noting
“the Government rightly recognises that the early and genuine engagement of Indigenous people is crucial to the success of projects on Country. I will announce today that we will remove the ability to conditionally register carbon projects on native title lands, producing a requirement to demonstrate native title holder consent prior to project registration… I really want to pay credit to ICIN for running a dedicated First Nations consultation to help inform this change to legislation.”
In response, ICIN Co-Chair and MC Cissy Gore-Birch OAM welcomed the Minister’s comments but also pointed to a critical gap—the lack of long-term funding for ICIN and other Indigenous organisations. She emphasised
“For free prior and informed consent to become commonplace, governments must provide funding to Indigenous groups and organisations to engage in consultation and agreement making."
ICIN will continue to work with the industry to support FPIC to be taken up as common practice, including through ICIN resources such as the Indigenous Carbon Projects Guide.
New carbon methods
ICIN and its members are continuing to innovate and develop new carbon methods through Indigenous-led research. In 2024, ICIN, ICIN members, and research partners worked through the Commonwealth Government’s proponent-led method development Expression of Interest process to achieve prioritisation of several methods by the Emissions Reduction Assurance Committee (ERAC). These include:
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Wetland Feral Ungulate Management Carbon Method
Funded by the National Environmental Science Program (NESP) and led by the North Australian Indigenous Land and Sea Management Alliance (NAILSMA) and the University of Queensland, together with ICIN’s Feral Ungulate Working Group, this research measures and models the emission reduction benefits of protecting wetland soils and vegetation by removing feral ungulates such as buffalo and pigs from these areas, either through exclusion fences, or culling. -
Savanna Fire Management (Northern Arid Zone Method Extension) Carbon Method
Led by the Indigenous Desert Alliance (IDA) this work builds on the collaborative research undertaken since 2020 with the aim of extending of the savanna fire management method to the frequently burnt areas in the northern Tanami of the Northern Territory and southern Kimberley region in Western Australia. Once completed, this extension of the method would increase the potential area for Indigenous savanna projects by up to 750,000 km2 -
Supporting blue carbon opportunities for Indigenous people
ICIN members and Indigenous communities are exploring the opportunities and challenges related to blue carbon—carbon stored in mangroves, seagrass, coastal floodplains, and supra-tidal forest areas- referred to as ‘Sea Country’.
In 2024, ICIN released a report ‘Blue Carbon: Opportunities for Indigenous People’[5] that included the first comprehensive national map of Indigenous legal interests by type, inclusive of the coastline and marine zone. Despite Indigenous people holding legal rights or eligible interests along 66% of Australia’s coastline, Indigenous participation in the blue carbon market remains limited. This is largely because the current ACCU Scheme blue carbon method[6] is largely inapplicable to lands where there are legally recognised Indigenous rights and interests and has prohibitive project startup costs.
ICIN’s research highlighted that a healthy blue carbon ecosystem does not necessarily translate into carbon project opportunities. Similar to land-based carbon projects, blue carbon projects require specific activities to restore or protect a degraded or threatened ecosystem, meaning there must be some level of damage or risk to the environment. This limitation has prevented many Indigenous groups from engaging in blue carbon projects, despite their stewardship of these ecosystems for millennia.
To address this gap and support Indigenous leadership and inclusion in blue carbon, ICIN has been advocating for additional blue carbon methods that are more applicable to the Indigenous estate, such as the Wetland Feral Ungulate Management method described above. ICIN continues to work with its members and partners on this area, with a final report on blue carbon opportunities to be released in 2025.
[1] An eligible interest-holder is any person or organisation that has a legal interest in the land a project proposed under the Australian Carbon Credit Unit (ACCU) Scheme will run on. A list of eligible interest-holders is specified in sections 43 to 45A of the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Act 2011.
[2] https://www.icin.org.au/latest_industry_snapshot
[3] This study compared NAFI data between 2000–2009 with project years 2015–2024
[4] Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Act 2011, Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Rule 2015.
[5] This report was funded by Charles Darwin University and the National Environmental Science Program.
[6] Tidal Restoration of Blue Carbon Ecosystems