Through better land management and a cull of feral animals, Australia’s Outback would serve as a massive “pollution bank,” cutting emissions by five percent by 2030, according to a study commissioned by the Pew Environment Group and Nature Conservancy.

The study found that 9.7 billion tonnes of carbon is stored in Australia’s central forests, grass and woodlands. It found that curbing land-clearing and wildfires and promoting the re-growth of native vegetation could help reduce pollution.

“Well over a billion tonnes [of carbon] can be stored between now and 2050 if we can put into practice better land management,” Patrick O’Leary, Pew spokesman, told public broadcaster ABC.

“This would be the equivalent of taking 7.5 million cars off the road every year for the next 40 years.”

He added that culling some of the large, non-native animals released into Australia’s wild, such as water buffalo and camels — which have reached plague proportions in some areas — would slash methane emissions.