Origin Energy has confirmed it will exercise around $30 million of planting options with carbon forest sink company Carbon Conscious.

 

Carbon Conscious will now plant around 10 million native Mallee eucalypt trees in Western Australia’s wheatbelt under the deal with Origin, which was originally sealed in 2009.


Carbon Conscious said the exercise of the options by Origin represented Australia’s first major bio-sequestration investment since the passage of the Clean Energy Act earlier this month.

 

The company said Origin had committed to exercising the 2012 component of the deal, and would also bring the 2013 plantings into the 2012 season.

 

The planting of 10 million trees in 2012 represented a 500 percent increase on the previously anticipated planting for the year, Carbon Conscious said.