Abstract

This Project was established this project to explore the potential development of a carbon emissions reduction methodology (‘method’) that recognises carbon storage and emissions avoidance in the increased use of wood products in the built environment. In 2024, the Australian Government established a Proponent-Led Method Development (PLMD) process for the Australian Carbon Credit Unit (ACCU) Scheme, which has provided Australia’s forest and wood products sector with an opportunity to develop a new method aimed at incentivizing building project developers of large building constructions to use sustainable wood products as an alternative to the use of other more emissions-intensive building materials and thereby reduce emissions from the construction sector.

This project report outlines the work undertaken by the project team to develop a new carbon crediting method that meets Australia’s Offset Integrity Standards (OIS) and would achieve eligible emissions reduction benefits from design and material choices used in large-scale and multi-level building construction projects. The central premise for this new method proposal is that construction project developers in Australia can use an increasing range of innovative mass timber products, for large scale building constructions, which can significantly reduce embodied carbon emissions compared to more conventional methods using non-renewable
construction materials, notably reinforced concrete and steel.