2026-06-26
The Federal Government has today approveda NSW proposal to generate carbon credits from native forests that could be sold to climate polluters as offsets for their emissions. With the unprofitable and destructive native forest logging industry in freefall in NSW, the Government must urgently end the practice regardless of the newly approved carbon pollution offset method.
NSW and Australia have progressively recognised the economic, health and wellbeing, climate and environmental benefits of protecting nature, and forests should be protected in their own right and not be categorised as just carbon banks for governments and the biggest climate polluters to now exploit.
Greens MP and spokesperson for the environment Sue Higginson said:
“As a nation, we are facing tipping points in the biodiversity and extinction crises, and must urgently seize upon any mechanism to reduce the carbon in our atmosphere to mitigate the catastrophe of accelerating climate change. Protecting forests from logging can immediately benefit both issues, and we cannot afford to wait for accounting games to be developed,”
“Our forests are home to some of the planets most wild and wondrous creatures, they have intrinsic value and as living filters of our water and air, and carbon sinks they should be protected for these values, just as we have done so until this major ideological shift by Labor governments,”
“Reducing our forests in NSW to cash cows and offsets for climate polluters is a concerning new era that sends a signal across the Country that Governments can disregard the intrinsic value of nature in favour of the latest get-out-of-jail-free card for climate polluters,”
“I have fought to protect our public native forests for over three decades, so ending native forest logging to create carbon credits that could be sold to the highest bidder feels dreadfully wrong. Perversely, these credits could exacerbate climate change that will directly threaten the forests that we love with extreme fires and worsening droughts,”
“There is no doubt this method has come a long way from the first draft I saw, it will permanently stop logging in some areas, reduce it in others, and the market’s problem with leakage has been tightened a lot,”
“Such a significant shift away from recognising the value of nature deserves serious scrutiny and critical analysis. Reducing our entire planet to mere tradeable accounting lines is an unacceptable and outrageous approach given just how dire the straits are that we have led ourselves into,” Ms Higginson said.