Australian land restoration firm Covalent Land is preparing to undertake the largest Environmental Plantings (EP) project in the country’s history, with plans to reforest 3,000 hectares in 2025. This marks a new milestone for carbon farming in Australia, where such projects generate Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) through the planting of native trees on land that has remained deforested for at least five years.
Wide-angle view of large-scale native tree planting across 3,000 hectares in Australia. AI generated picture.
‘This is the biggest scale of planting ever attempted in the country under the EP method,’ said Cuong Tran, Covalent Land’s Chief Executive, in a statement to Quantum.
The company currently manages 12 active projects, each spanning 400 to 500 hectares on average. Among its clients are institutional investors like Silva Capital, emissions-heavy corporates such as Woodside Energy, and several high-net-worth family offices.
Covalent recently completed planting nearly 160,000 native trees across 400 hectares in Queensland for Silva Capital. The long-term goal is even more ambitious—Covalent aims to plant 7,000 hectares for Silva over the next five years, translating to approximately 3 million trees.
The first phase of that broader planting schedule is set to begin between May and June on a 590-hectare parcel, weather permitting. ‘Everyone’s chasing the EP credit because of the quality and the integrity’, Tran noted, ‘but there are bottlenecks, because you’ve only got two months out of every 12 to really do the work and meet the conditions and make sure that the trees have the best chances of survival.’
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The limited planting windows on Australia’s east coast—typically March to May and August to September—mean careful logistical coordination is crucial. In New South Wales, above-average rainfall has already enabled early planting this month.
Maintaining tree survival rates between 80–85% will require managing weed competition, protecting against drought, and minimising damage from herbivores such as wallabies. Infill planting, replacing trees lost during the previous season, will also be a key strategy for multiple developers during the next few months.
Environmental Plantings have gained ground recently, particularly after the expiry of the Human-Induced Regeneration method and the end of avoided deforestation projects. In 2024, EP project registrations surged to 86, up from just 11 in 2021, according to data from the Clean Energy Regulator.
These projects are also commanding premium prices in the carbon market. EP ACCUs were assessed at $32.55 (AUD 51) per tonne of CO2 equivalent last week, significantly higher than the $21 (AUD 34.75) per tCO2e valuation for Generic ACCUs. Despite higher upfront investment and longer credit issuance timelines, the demand for high-integrity credits continues to drive developer interest.
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