It is doubtful as to how much carbon is sequestered by most species outside of more established trees such as mallee and pines etc. There is very little mixed species R&D to date ? CSIRO through the Future Fund and support of FPC (now in the Dept of Ag) are only now starting to do this work.
Acacias may or may not produce as much carbon as mallees depending on the density at which they are planted. Unlike mallees (which live for hundreds of years - trees need to be at least 100 years to be Kyoto compliant and thus compliant under Australia scheme), acacias are very short lived ? 10-25 years depending on species. The consequence is that in mixed species plantings the ?official? carbon forecast is likely to be severely limited.
Initial reviews suggested that at best environmental mived specie plantings in regions might achieve 50t CO2e/ha at maturity at around 40 years! As such the numbers dont add up.
Given that mallees exist in many parts of Australia ( some 400 species), often in near to single species stands, it is not correct to suggest that mallees will get wiped out by disease.
The facts are that there is not enough information on the carbon sequestration for mixed species so companies wont invest in them at this time. The evidence is in the market with CO2 and CCF securing millions of dollars of investment from large companies and multi species relying on government and green minded individuals etc thus far.
The short lived nature of acacias combined with the low carbon numbers = inferior product as far as investors are concerned.
CCF Price at posting:
35.0¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Held
