Decarbonising the Basin’s irrigation regions
Status
In Progress
Project Type
Round 2
Timeframe
2025 - 2028
Core Partners
University of Melbourne, Renmark Irrigation Trust, University of Sydney, Almond Board of Australia, Duxton Capital, Horticulture Innovation Australia, Murrumbidgee Irrigation, North Central Catchment Management Authority (CMA), Riparian Capital Partners, Wine Australia
This project will focus on identifying and proving the most appropriate methods to decarbonise water-related activities in the Murray–Darling Basin’s irrigation regions.
About the project
Australia aims to reduce carbon emissions by 43% from 2005 levels by 2030, and achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. Agricultural greenhouse gas emissions are a significant contributor, including the energy used for irrigation. Decarbonisation is necessary to meet global carbon reduction targets. The Murray–Darling Basin (Basin) supports 8,400 irrigated agriculture businesses, producing $30 billion in food & fibre annually. It’s home to 44% of Australia’s irrigation farms, 76% of grapes, and 46% of fruit & and nuts. Plus, 2.4 million people rely on Basin water. The project will have far-reaching impacts for Australia’s food and fibre production, in the Basin and beyond.
This project aligns with the One Basin CRC’s purpose to build capacity to confront climate change. It aims to help producers maintain and expand access in a global market increasingly regulating carbon-neutral supply chains, reduce energy costs, enhance farm resilience, and improve overall sustainability. By addressing the complex roadblocks of transitioning to carbon-neutral practices, the project will support the agricultural sector in meeting both current and future challenges. Our aim is to complement and enhance existing initiatives, supporting individual farmers and the community of growers to meet compliance requirements, while enhancing knowledge exchange for learning.
Over the project timeframe, we will analyse ways to remove barriers to adoption, assess technologies and behavioural changes at demonstration sites, and develop capacity-building programs to build awareness and capacity to adopt the most implementable solutions.
A diverse partner group spanning the entirety of the Murray–Darling Basin – north to south, removes state borders, and allows collaboration between research and industry to work together to deliver project outcomes. Basin-wide collaboration is essential to enable scaled solutions that are not siloed within particular regions across the Basin.
Outcomes
The project will identify pathways and methods to create permanent change, to be deployed by end users. For example, the research will identify best practices through existing demonstration sites for achieving net-zero emissions targets via renewable energy purchase and usage. During the project, end users will also be enabled to develop community renewable power schemes using the research outcomes, which could be funded via funding schemes like those provided by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA).