Project Oaks: Delivering carbon sequestration and biodiversity value

Environment

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Published on

16 September 2025

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In September 2024, APA purchased The Oaks, a 980 ha property located 45 km from Bathurst in New South Wales, to develop as its first carbon sequestration project. In May 2025, the Clean Energy Regulator declared Project Oaks an Eligible Offset project under the ACCU Scheme's new Reforestation by Environmental or Mallee Planting Method. This method involves establishing and maintaining native vegetation on land previously cleared of forest cover, sequestering carbon as the trees grow. Historically grazing land, this method supports the reintroduction of grazing in parallel with ACCU generation. With around 500 ha eligible for this carbon project, we estimate the project will generate around 220,000 ACCUs over the 25-year crediting period.

Together with the Environmental Planting project, we aim to protect and enhance biodiversity corridors for plants and wildlife...

The area ineligible for the carbon project holds richly biodiverse native vegetation. APA's Offsets team is exploring opportunities to protect this native vegetation by placing it under conservation through the NSW Government's Biodiversity Offset Scheme. Together with the Environmental Planting project, we aim to protect and enhance biodiversity corridors for plants and wildlife, like the endangered purple copper butterfly (Paralucia spinifera). This is one of Australia's rarest butterfly species, only known to occur in the Central Tablelands of New South Wales (around Bathurst, Lithgow and Oberon). We aim to certify the nature improvements, validating the co-benefits to the ACCUs.

An Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Assessment is underway on Project Oaks. We are working with local First Nations groups throughout this process, with fieldwork and test excavations planned for FY26. We aim to build on the relationships with our First Nations stakeholders and explore avenues to walk together in creating sharedvalue opportunities. This may be an avenue to contribute to delivering APA's Reconciliation Action Plan.