Australian carbon credit units (ACCUs) are a financial product under the Corporations Act 2001. You should seek independent legal and/or financial advice about your individual circumstances.
The Australian Government has now made the Corporations Amendment (Emissions Reduction Fund Participants) Regulation 2015 (Regulation) which exempts a carbon abatement contract from the definition of a 'derivative' and a 'financial product' for the purposes of the Corporations Act 2001.
The exemption means that a person is not required to hold an Australian financial services (AFS) licence to provide advice about, or enter into, a carbon abatement contract.
As explained in the explanatory statement to the Regulation, the Australian Government has decided to progress this exemption separately from the other proposed exemptions for aggregators and carbon service providers.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has published information about carbon markets and financial services.