U.S. energy major Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX) will provide funding for two carbon capture projects in Western Australia (WA), Australia’s largest state, through its Chevron Australia New Energies Pty Ltd and Chevron Australia Pty Ltd subsidiaries, according to an announcement made Friday.
The size of the investments was not disclosed.
The first collaboration is with WA-based Carbon Sync, which is leading a pilot project for soil carbon sequestration across an area of up to 80,000 hectares (approx. 197,684 acres) in WA’s cropping and grazing region. This would be Chevron’s first nature-based carbon offsets project in Australia.
The second collaboration is a multi-year research project with Deakin University’s Blue Carbon Lab aimed at exploring the potential for capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) in WA’s coastal wetlands.
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“Our collaboration with Carbon Sync is expected to provide critical insights related to soil carbon projects, in a region with large potential for scale to help meet the forecasted demand for Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs),” David Fallon, who is General Manager for Energy Transition at Chevron Australia, said in a comment.
According to Louise Edmonds, Carbon Sync’s Founder and CEO, their pilot will enhance the sustainability of WA’s agricultural sector and improve biodiversity outcomes, while also creating jobs and bringing further investment to the state.
Commenting on the research collaboration with Blue Carbon Lab, Fallon said “we are excited to explore the opportunities for blue carbon in WA’s saltmarsh, mangrove and seagrass environments”.
According to Professor Peter Macreadie, Director of Blue Carbon Lab, their project is looking to address the existing knowledge gap as to the size of blue carbon assets in the state of WA as well as the potential for new blue carbon opportunities that can be created through the conservation and restoration of coastal wetlands.
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