Living Carbon grants

Managing carbon is both a challenge and an enormous opportunity for landholders.

If you are a landholder in NSW, you may be eligible for a NSW Government grant to set up a carbon planting project. This could help secure the health of your land, improve productivity, and unlock new income streams. Your land could be used to revegetate habitats for threatened or iconic species such as koalas.

We are partnering with the NSW Koala Strategy and NSW Local Land Services to work with landholders who share our commitment to acting on climate change.  

Eligibility

We are investing $5 million in Living Carbon grants to assist eligible applicants in delivering carbon abatement through planting projects in 3 regions in NSW:  

• the Riverina Local Land Services region
• the North Coast Local Land Services region
• the MidCoast Local Government Area.

Successful applicants can receive up to $200,000 of grant funding. The landholder is expected to commit funding and/or in-kind contributions to complete the project.  

A suitable project would:

• plant between 10 and 200 hectares of appropriate species on your land  
• plant with the aim of revegetating habitat for threatened or iconic species endemic to your area
• deliver on and comply with all Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCU) Scheme and Accounting for Nature (AfN) method requirements, beyond the lifetime of your grant.

In return, successful applicants must commit to sharing information and helping build capacity within the sector. This will help other landholders understand the potential benefits, risks and costs of carbon projects.  

Pre-application requirements

Project registration

Your project must be registered under the national Australian Carbon Credit Unit (ACCU) Scheme with the Clean Energy Regulator (CER). You must provide evidence of unconditional registration when applying for a Living Carbon grant. 
Projects must be registered under either of the following two methods:

• The Environmental Plantings Pilot 2014 method that closed in September 2024. Your project must have been registered with the CER using this method before 30 September 2024.
• The Environmental Plantings 2024 method that became available in December 2024. 
  A low-risk planting option with a simpler audit process may be added to the 2024 method in the future. If this happens, it will become the required method for the Living Carbon grant, and you will need to opt in. See the Frequently asked questions for more information.

Please note that while the new Environmental Plantings 2024 method permits site preparation to commence prior to full approval, the Living Carbon grant requirements do not. Under the grant requirements, you cannot commence any project activity until a funding deed has been signed.  

Endorsed planting plan

As part of your grant application, you must complete and submit a planting plan endorsed by an approved on-ground support partner. We have provided:

• a planting plan guide for each region
• a planting plan template
• and a blank workbook (optional tool) for you to complete this task.  

The planting plan guide provides information, instructions, and additional resources to assist you with your planting plan.  

Refer to the planting plan guide specific to your region when you develop your plan.