The Emissions Reduction Fund’s (ERF) Human-induced Regeneration (HIR) method provides landholders with Australian carbon credit units (ACCUs) for regenerating native forests by changing land management practices. When it was originally made, the method was intended to incentivise the regeneration of native forests by allowing juvenile trees and shrubs to regrow in areas that were previously cleared. Offset projects involving the regeneration of native forests that would not have regenerated in the absence of the project, such as in previously cleared areas, are both legitimate and desirable. However, the vast majority of HIR projects are not in areas that have previously been cleared. Almost all of the current HIR projects are located in semi-arid and arid areas (less than 350 mm average annual rainfall) that have never been comprehensively cleared (Figure 1), meaning most proponents are trying to regenerate native forests in remnant native vegetation solely by reducing grazing pressure from livestock and feral animals