Qantas said it had become the latest member of a new fund backing nature-based carbon projects around Australia. Qantas joined other mining giants like Rio Tinto and BHP as initial investors in the fund operated by Silva Capital, which targets $250 million to be raised in order to develop and manage Australian Carbon Credit Units. It will be known as the Silva Carbon Origination Fund and operate in reforestation and sustainable farming practices to produce high environmental integrity carbon credits.
Qantas is investing as part of its broader climate strategy aimed at reducing carbon emissions across its operations. This new venture shall be underpinned by the Qantas AUD$400 million Climate Fund, established by the airline in 2023. That climate fund was specifically set up to back Qantas’ decarbonization ambitions, which entail investments in SAF and other carbon-reduction initiatives.
It is one of the pioneering large-scale funds in Australia to access ACCUs. The Silva Carbon Origination Fund will invest in an investment strategy acquiring agricultural land for projects related to carbon sequestration. These not only help reduce carbon but also provide better land management and biodiversity. These projects are expected to provide economic benefits to local communities while helping to combat climate change.
Qantas is investing in the Silva Carbon Origination Fund to meet its target of securing high-quality verifiable carbon credits. It seeks to do this at a time of growing demand for carbon offsets, driven by both the Australian Government’s Safeguard Mechanism Policy and the global climate targets enshrined in the Paris Agreement. Carbon offsets would be key to delivering climate objectives for sectors like aviation, where abatement at source is hard to achieve.
A fund to be managed by Silva Capital will run carbon sequestration projects on deforested land, but the land will still remain economically viable for agriculture. In this respect, the initiative would be aligned with Qantas’ philosophy of insetting through nature-based solutions that generate both ecological and economic values. This is a high-integrity approach to carbon credits that would underpin the general growth and credibility of the Australian carbon market.
Qantas’ Chief Sustainability Officer, Andrew Parker, said that carbon offsets would be the key to hitting climate change targets in hard-to-abate industries such as aviation. He explained that while demand for carbon offsets would certainly surge, broad intersectoral collaboration would be needed to boost the availability of high-quality, high-integrity carbon credits. Qantas also expects to strengthen its carbon market strategy through this investment in Silva Carbon Origination Fund and play a role in shaping how the industry develops more broadly.
This is part of Qantas’ more comprehensive sustainability push, including a contribution to SAFFA and an investment in a biofuel production facility in Queensland. These initiatives reflect the Qantas Group’s commitment to reducing carbon emissions and supporting the transition toward sustainable aviation.
Source: Qantas Group