Projects under savanna fire management methods can earn Australian carbon credit units (ACCUs) by reintroducing controlled fire burning during the early dry season. 

This reduces the frequency and severity of fires in the late dry season.

New savanna fire management methods

The 2026 savanna fire management methods launched on 10 April 2026.

Projects that are covered by the closed methods aren’t affected. They’ll continue for the duration of their crediting period.
If you have a project covered by the closed methods, you can choose to transfer to the 2026 savanna fire management methods.

You can register a new project or transfer your project to the 2026 savanna fire management methods in Online Services from 16 April 2026.

When to use this method

There are 2 active savanna fire management methods. 

A savanna fire management method may be suitable if you:

  • have land in northern Australia
  • can reintroduce controlled burns into the landscape.

Legislation

Before you plan or register your project, make sure you have read and understand the legislative requirements and the method:

Eligibility

To be eligible under these methods you must take the following steps:

  1. Identify eligible project areas – land must be in the high or low rainfall zone in northern Australia and contain eligible savanna vegetation types.
  2. Establish legal right to run your project and claim ACCUs – this involves holding relevant land titles, partnering with First Nations landholders or having a signed agreement with other landholders to run a project on their land.
  3. Obtain regulatory approvals and consent from everyone with an eligible interest in the project land – this may include banks, state governments (if the land is leased) or relevant native title bodies corporate.

For projects under the sequestration and emissions avoidance method, you must explain your intended steps to ensure carbon remains stored in the project area according to permanence obligations.

You must also meet general eligibility requirements for the ACCU Scheme.

In lieu of newness and regulatory additionality requirements

To meet in lieu of newness and additionality requirements, projects must meet one of the following criteria:

  • The project is a transferring project area.
  • The project has not had any part of the project area previously covered by the savanna fire management method.
  • If any part of the project area was previously covered by the savanna fire management method, no ACCUs were issued to the project.
  • If any part of the project area was previously covered by the savanna fire management method, and ACCUs were issued to the project, the project was revoked more than 10 years ago (emissions avoidance method only).

The regulatory additionality requirement requires that project areas must not include land where fire management is legally required by Commonwealth, state or territory law for the purpose of: 

  • reducing emissions from fire
  • storing carbon in living biomass or dead organic matter.

Method requirements

info
Savanna Carbon Accounting Model (SavCAM)

SavCAM will be finalised in the second half of 2026. We will contact proponents when the new version is available.

If you have a registered project under a closed method (2013, 2015 or 2018), you can transfer your project to the 2026 savanna fire management methods.

Projects under savanna fire management methods must conduct annual planned burning in each project area each calendar year. Activities can include igniting strategic and planned fires:

  • from aircrafts
  • from vehicles
  • by walking across country with handheld drip torches.

Early dry season fire management may be supported by late dry season fire management activities such as constructing fire breaks.

Fire management activities depend on the local landscape and weather conditions.

Before you begin burning each year, you must prepare a project management plan that:

  • describes the planned burning you intended to be undertaken. This can be modified during the fire season to show accurate conditions
  • considers the likely impact of PM2.5 particulate matter on air quality as a result of planned burning in areas where people live. Further details on PM2.5 particulate matter are available in the department's technical guidance document for the 2026 savanna fire management methods.  
  • includes a plan for monitoring for the presence of each relevant weed species. This must consider the risk of relevant weed species, how that risk was determined, and a monitoring approach.

The project management plan must be prepared in accordance with requirements in the department's technical guidance document for the 2026 savanna fire management methods. 

Abatement calculations are based on:

  • the project baseline
  • vegetation fuel type map – to define the vegetation class of each mapping unit within the project area. For example, open forest with mixed grasses or shrubland with hummock grasses
  • annual fire scar maps – to identify if a mapping unit has been burnt or unburnt.

The project baseline is the average emissions or carbon stock that would occur in a project area without a savanna fire management project. 

The baseline period for new projects that register for the first time under the 2026 methods is 20 years. Existing projects that transfer to the 2026 methods will keep their existing baseline period.

There can be a gap of up to 6 years between the baseline period and crediting period for new projects that have conducted capacity building fire management. If capacity building fire management has been conducted, you must provide details and relevant evidence with the application to register the project.

You must complete your net abatement calculations with the external Savanna Carbon Accounting Model (SavCAM) when it's available.

Project abatement may vary in years due to:

  • the type and extent of fire management activities
  • the number of unplanned fires
  • normal climate variability.

Projects under the sequestration and emissions avoidance method must calculate abatement separately for emissions avoidance and sequestration for each project area in each calendar year that ends during the reporting period. These values are then added together to calculate the net abatement.

If planned burning is not conducted in a project area in a calendar year, no ACCUs are credited.

Abatement for emissions avoided is calculated from the difference between mean baseline and annual project emissions. This reflects the change in emissions due to change in fire management practices. 

Uncertainty buffer

Yearly variations for emissions avoidance are managed through the uncertainty buffer.

If a project has a positive benefit, a portion (up to 10% of ACCUs) is set aside to cover potential losses in the future. This buffer will build to a maximum of 5% of the average annual baseline emissions. It isn't returned to projects at the end of the crediting period.

If emissions from fires in a year are greater than experienced in the baseline period, the abatement will be negative. This negative value is offset by withdrawing from the uncertainty buffer. If the negative abatement exceeds the amount in the uncertainty buffer, projects won't receive credits in subsequent years until the uncertainty buffer returns to a positive value.

Sequestration rewards ACCUs for storing the carbon in both living biomass and dead organic matter, including trees, logs and branches that would otherwise be burned in wildfires.

Net abatement from sequestration is the difference between the carbon stored during the project years and the baseline. This shows the difference in carbon stored with the change of fire management practices.

ACCUs rewarded for storing carbon in living biomass and dead organic matter are subject to the sequestration buffer. The sequestration buffers that apply to the sequestration abatement of a project are:

  • a 25% discount for projects with a 25-year permanence period
  • a 5% discount for projects with a 100-year permanence period.

All projects under the sequestration method are subject to permanence obligations.

Sequestration projects must demonstrate that controlled burning will continue long enough to ensure that carbon remains in the landscape during the permanence period. Stopping these activities before the end of the permanence period can undo the benefits and result in a return of earned ACCUs.

Sequestration bank

The sequestration bank smooths ACCU issuance over the project crediting period. For new projects, half of the carbon sequestered each calendar year is added to the sequestration bank. Abatement is also released each year as a proportion of the number of years left in the project’s crediting period. This reflects increasing confidence in the permanence of sequestration throughout the crediting period.

Carryover amount

In some years, the sequestration might be negative. Negative sequestration values may be carried over into the next year’s calculations through a combination of a deduction from the sequestration bank and a negative carryover amount. 

New projects that register under the methods for the first time have a crediting period of 25 years.

Crediting periods for projects that transfer to the methods will depend on when and how they transferred, and whether new eligible interest holder consents were obtained.

Savanna fire management methods require monitoring and treating weed-affected areas.

Monitoring for the presence of relevant weed species must be conducted according to the project management plan. If relevant weed species are detected for the first time, you must notify us within 60 days of becoming aware of the detection and provide:

  • the date of detection
  • the name of the relevant weed species
  • the location that it was detected in a geospatial format.

Once a weed-affected area is identified, there are 2 options:

  • Treat the weed-affected area using herbicide or mechanical removal to kill or remove all above ground biomass in accordance with any relevant Commonwealth, state or territory laws. Treatment must occur at least every 12 months until the weed species has not been detected in that area for at least 24 months.
  • Permanently remove the project area that contains the weed species by subdividing the original project area and removing the subdivided project area that contains the relevant weed species.

Further information about monitoring relevant weed species can be found in the department's savanna technical guidance document.

For projects under the emissions avoidance method, you need to report on your project at least once every 2 years. For projects under the sequestration and emissions avoidance method, you need to report on your project at least once every 5 years.

You receive ACCUs when you report emissions reductions or sequestration over the crediting period.

To successfully report, you need to submit an application through Online Services. Applications must include:

  • offsets reports with:
    • a statement that the project area was not varied, other than in accordance with the CFI Rules
    • statements if project areas were subdivided, added or removed since the last reporting period
    • a declaration that the density of livestock hasn't increased as a consequence of the project
    • a description of burning activities such as location, timing, method and extent, or an explanation of why planned burning was not conducted
    • an indication of whether the burning activities met the project objectives
  • abatement calculations (SavCAM reports)
  • information on weed species management and monitoring activities including evidence of treatment or eradication of weeds, a copy of your vegetation fuel type map and supporting information on how it meets the method requirements
  • yearly project management plans
  • fire permits.

For sequestration projects, the first offsets reports submitted following years 8 and 24 of the crediting period must also include a permanence plan. This should provide an explanation of the steps undertaken, and intended to be undertaken, to ensure carbon remains sequestered in the project area for the permanence obligation period for the project.

We provide you with an audit schedule when your project is declared. This includes at least 3 audits. Additional audits can be triggered.

You must provide audit reports according to this schedule.

Find out more about our audit information.

Documents and resources

Explore all ACCU Scheme guidance using the guidance library.

Find out more

Emissions reduction
ACCU

Plan your project

Make sure you plan properly before you apply to participate or register an Australian Carbon Credit Unit (ACCU) Scheme project.
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ACCU

Transferring your project to the 2026 savanna fire management methods

Projects registered under the previous savanna fire management methods may apply to transfer to the 2026 emissions avoidance method or 2026 sequestration method.  
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