A major Australian study has found some of the nation’s biggest polluters are meeting their emissions obligations using carbon credits that have not actually resulted in emissions reductions. …Andrew Macintosh, one of the lead authors of the paper and an environment law and policy professor at the Australian National University first sounded the alarm two years ago, calling the carbon market “largely a sham”. His calls were rejected by a government-commissioned review, but Professor Macintosh said the new research shows further evidence that human-induced regeneration – a core part of the Australian Carbon Credit Unit (ACCU) scheme – hasn’t worked. …Researchers monitored 182 Human Induced Regeneration (HIR) projects, which make up about 30 per cent of all ACCUs and have cost taxpayers nearly $300 million over their lifetime. They found many of the projects to grow native forests were claiming to be regenerating them in uncleared desert and semi-desert areas.