Fortescue Metals Group is investigating carbon farming as a way of earning Australian carbon credit units, despite executive chairman Andrew Forrest’s traditional scepticism and hostility toward the offsets industry.

Fortescue community and government engagement manager Sasha Pendal said the company believed there could be an economy-wide “rush” to buy ACCUs in the near future as emitters sought to meet the carbon reduction limits enforced by the Albanese government’s safeguard mechanism policy.