Vivent's Pacific region is our most advanced CDR innovation hub — pioneering enhanced weathering across Queensland's basalt-rich farmland, marine carbon programmes in partnership with CSIRO, and seagrass restoration along southern Australian coastlines alongside First Nations communities.
Australia and New Zealand are uniquely positioned as both CDR innovation hubs and high-quality deployment environments. Queensland's Main Range volcanic formation provides basalt for enhanced weathering within 100km of some of Australia's most productive agricultural land. Southern Australian and New Zealand coastlines support some of the southern hemisphere's most extensive seagrass meadows — degraded by coastal development and runoff, but highly recoverable. And Australia has one of the world's most sophisticated carbon market regulatory environments, with ACCU infrastructure that supports CDR methodologies far ahead of most national frameworks.
Vivent launched in Australia in 2023 in partnership with CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research for the Gippsland shellfish and coastal alkalinity pilot, and simultaneously with the University of Queensland for the Darling Downs enhanced weathering programme co-development. The Australia/NZ region is deliberately structured as a research-led market — we invest heavily in MRV science here knowing that the methodologies validated in this environment will transfer to our larger deployments in India, Southeast Asia, and Africa.
New Zealand is at the earliest stage — Vivent is in active dialogue with NIWA and Waikato University on a seaweed CDR pilot in the Hauraki Gulf, and with Māori farming cooperatives in the Bay of Plenty on potential enhanced weathering applications on pastoral land. No credits are being issued in New Zealand yet.
Research-led, science-verified, and built around Australian farming and fishing community co-governance — the AU/NZ portfolio sets the MRV bar for the global CDR market.
Co-developed with Darling Downs cotton and grain cooperatives. 340 farm enterprises across 18,000 ha target area. Basalt sourced from Main Range volcanic formation. University of Queensland geochemistry MRV partnership. First credit issuance targeted 2026 (Isometric/UNDO verified).
Pilot programme with Gippsland Fishing Co-operative and CSIRO. Oyster and native shellfish reef restoration combined with coastal olivine alkalinity enhancement. Gunaikurnai Traditional Owners as co-governance partners. MRV framework development for 2026 credit issuance. World-first combined protocol.
Seagrass restoration in Coffin Bay and lower Spencer Gulf — some of Australia's most extensive Posidonia australis meadows, heavily degraded by nutrient runoff from aquaculture and coastal development. Pilot with Port Lincoln community diving operators. University of Adelaide marine ecology partnership.
Scoping programme for enhanced weathering on Victorian volcanic plains — world-class EW geology with abundant local basalt, established dairy and sheep grazing enterprises. University of Melbourne soil science collaboration. Pre-commercial scoping phase, targeting enrolment in 2027.
Pre-scoping dialogue with NIWA and Waikato University for a seaweed cultivation CDR pilot in the Hauraki Gulf — restoring productive seaweed habitat that has declined significantly due to sedimentation. Potential partnership with Ngāti Paoa and Ngāti Whanaunga Māori iwi as co-governance partners.
Early-stage dialogue with Māori farming cooperatives in the Bay of Plenty about enhanced weathering applications on pastoral land. New Zealand has abundant reactive volcanic rock and highly productive pastoral systems — conditions ideal for EW. FPIC process anticipated to begin 2027.
Australia and New Zealand's community context is different from Vivent's other regions. The primary operators are established commercial farming and fishing enterprises — Darling Downs cotton cooperatives, Gippsland fishing families — rather than subsistence smallholders. Carbon income here supplements existing profitable operations rather than transforming household economics. The programme design reflects this: farmers participate because the agronomic co-benefits (pH correction, yield improvement) are valuable even without carbon revenue.
First Nations co-governance is a core principle across all Australian programmes. Gunaikurnai Traditional Owners hold co-governance rights over the Gippsland marine pilot — not as consultation participants, but as decision-makers on project design, monitoring protocols, and community benefit distribution. Vivent's NZ pipeline is designed from the outset to operate under iwi co-governance frameworks.
Australia is also where Vivent's scientific credibility is most publicly scrutinised — operating alongside CSIRO means our methodology must withstand the same rigour applied to peer-reviewed research. We welcome this. The standards validated here transfer directly to our programmes in India and Southeast Asia.
"The volcanic country of Gippsland has always been part of our relationship with sea Country. Partnering with Vivent on the shellfish programme lets us exercise our responsibilities as Traditional Owners in a way that also brings real environmental benefit to the bay."
Vivent's Australia and NZ credits are backed by CSIRO science and Isometric verification — the highest-rigour CDR pathway available in the southern hemisphere.