Integrating social measures into land sector carbon abatement investment decisions

Abstract With growing demand for land sector carbon abatement to support multiple objectives, there are calls to improve how social measures can be applied to inform investment decisions. Yet, limitations exist in using social measures to inform land-use investment and valuation frameworks. This study focuses on how social measures can inform the alignment of land sector investment priorities with regional social contexts. In partnership with Australia’s Queensland Government, we curated, visualised, and analysed how socio-economic datasets could be translated into useable social measures to help inform investment decisions with an emphasis on project risk and delivery criteria. We identified five social measures, to inform investments: (i) regional access to economic resources and services; (ii) socio-economic (dis)advantage; (iii) workforce specialisation and skills; (iv) regional aspirations and concerns; and (v) access to local institutions and expertise. Mapping existing carbon abatement project locations against these measures, we show that investments in land sector carbon abatement projects in Queensland, Australia are located in different areas when investments consider least cost carbon abatement compared to when they also consider social contexts and potential co-benefits. This research acknowledges the complexities of integrating social measures in investment decisions and highlights the importance of science–policy collaborations to support the identification and use of social measures to inform investments under carbon abatement initiatives.