ABORIGINAL CARBON ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES (ACES) LAUNCHES
MAXIMISING SOCIAL AND COMMERCIAL RETURNS TO ABORIGINAL LEASEHOLDERS AND NATIVE TITLE BODIES THROUGH CARBON
Aboriginal Carbon Environmental Services (ACES) was born out the ABC (Aboriginal Biodiversity Conservation) Foundation Ltd, through the support of its community partners across the Gascoyne and Midwest.
The vision of ABC’s On-Country Carbon Model and Framework is to maximise ‘On-Country’ Aboriginal benefits for its Aboriginal leaseholder partners. The Foundation aims to achieve this through the creation of an overarching Aboriginal Controlled Carbon Aggregator Services model, the recently launched ACES, providing individual ‘project’ partner ownership, while leveraging social impact investment to be delivered through the Foundations Community Partnership Model.
In summary, the Carbon Model ensures that maximum value derived from the sale of Carbon Credits returns to the Aboriginal leaseholder and the relevant Native Title Body, with 100% of all co-benefits generated by the Carbon project aimed to benefit the local Aboriginal community through training, employment, cultural and heritage activities.
Carbon farming seeks to reduce and mitigate the impacts of global warming by implementing agricultural or land management practices that increase the amount of carbon stored in the soil and vegetation. In Australia, carbon farming is regulated by the Clean Energy Regulator through the Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF).
The Foundation saw the potential of carbon farming for Aboriginal Corporations and Native Title land owners to underpin commercial, cultural and heritage activities, while assisting with the restoration of country; and as Human-Induced Regeneration (HIR) carbon projects continued to be registered across the WA Southern Rangeland region, ABC was quick to identify that the commercial carbon farming models being developed were not aligned to the social impact benefits of the Foundations operations.
It was then, with a blank piece of paper and with support from the Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation (ILSC), that the ABC Foundation set out to re-define how carbon projects are being delivered, ensuring that Aboriginal people were at the centre of the decision-making process and dividend distribution. Form this simple philosophy ABC’s On-Country Carbon Model and Framework was developed and Aboriginal Carbon Environmental Services (ACES) was formed.
The point of difference of the model is that the Aboriginal leaseholder, their future aspirations, and strategies are identified and are prioritised, while funded by the carbon opportunity. This is achieved by ensuring that Aboriginal people retain ownership and management control of their carbon projects, while providing investors the opportunity to contribute to positive social and environmental impact programs, all while lowering the investors overall carbon footprint.
ABC Foundation Chairperson, Helen Slater, said “at the heart of the ABC Foundation, On-Country Carbon model, is the knowledge that Aboriginal people are leading the growth of a sustainable land and sea economy, our Aboriginal Carbon Environmental Services (ACES) business gives leaseholders a seat at the decision-making table over their own carbon projects”.
ACES is ideally placed to capitalise on the carbon narrative by offering transparent, equitable and holistic approaches to carbon farming which leave a cultural and social legacy to the landowner and their community.
With the model now being implemented with existing community partners, ABC Foundation and ACES encourages Native Title groups and/or Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal pastoral leaseholders to get in touch with the ACES team if considering carbon farming opportunities.
MORE INFO
ABC On-Country Carbon model and framework
ACES
On-Country Carbon Business Model and Feasibility Assessment
On-Country Carbon Impact Measurement Strategy
CONTACT
If you have any questions about On-Country Carbon and ACES please reach out to ACES
Chief Operating Officer:
Jason West | jason@acesau.com.au | 0419 730 023
For interview and media requests, please reach out to ABC Foundation’s
PR and Partnerships Coordinator:
Kate Branson | oncountry@abcau.com.au | 0406 611 619