The Cooperative Research Centre for Greenhouse Accounting runs an innovative education program designed to deliver current perspectives on, and access to, cutting-edge research in greenhouse and carbon accounting to our stakeholders. One of the principal ways in which we work to achieve this, is via a program of short courses that cover the range of key topics central to understanding and good practice in carbon accounting, at scales from project to national.

CRC GA short courses are offered as stand-alone professional courses of two to three days duration.
Any three courses below may also be combined to provide sufficient material for a postgraduate (Masters level) university course credit, with advantages for professionals seeking training for career development.

Implementation is currently underway for this year's curriculum, including:

"Managing Carbon in Agricultural Systems" (July 2002)
"Global Change and Earth Systems" (July 2002)

Modules on which our courses are based are outlined below:

1. Global Change & the Carbon Cycle

• Defining change in the earth system
• Climate change & variability
• Ecosystem change
• Biogeochemical cycling
• The carbon cycle - stocks and flows
• Introduction to measuring and managing carbon

2. Accounting for Carbon in the Environment

• The Kyoto Protocol Carbon stocks and stores
• Land-based carbon accounting
• Activity-based carbon accounting
• Uncertainties and trade-offs
• Implementation of national carbon accounting systems

3. Measuring Carbon in the Environment

• Measurement scales: global - local
• Evolving measurement techniques: incl. above and belowground biomass, soil carbon and fluxes; forest, rangeland & cropland environments; remote sensing, field survey, etc.
• Inventory options & approaches;
• the Australian NCAS and NGGI

4. Managing Carbon in the Environment

• Land use and land-use change
• Forest carbon management
• Rangeland carbon management
• Cropland carbon management
• Project-based activities
• Modelling carbon management (with Range-ASSESS)

5. Sustainable Development & Carbon

• Sustainable development strategies & assessment
• Economic & policy instruments (including CDM)
• Natural resource & development economics
• Environmental & socio-economic impact assessment

6. Carbon Rights, Carbon Credits & Carbon Trading

• The international context: the FCCC, COPn and the Kyoto Protocol
• Mechanisms for mitigation
• Carbon rights
• Carbon credits and trading (including an emissions trading simulation)
• Australian industry, agriculture and government positions

Specific courses recently run by the CRC GA include:

• Carbon Sinks & the Kyoto Protocol - 3-day course based on module 1 in our series of 6 modules.
• How to Measure Forest Carbon - 3-day practical course based on module 3 above.