Crediting period

Seven years – The crediting period is the period of time a project can apply to claim Australian carbon credit units (ACCUs).

Relevant section of the Act:

• Act – Part 5

Eligibility requirements

There are general eligibility requirements in the Act, which include:

• newness
• additionality and funding from other government programs, and
• legal right

Obtaining legal right may require you to make arrangements with a number of different stakeholders including building owners, tenants and building managers.

In addition, a project must only involve existing buildings that are rateable under the National Australian Built Environment Rating System (NABERS), and are one of the following building types:

• offices
• hotels, or
• shopping centres.

Mixed use buildings are also eligible, as long as they can be rated by NABERS as one of the above building types.

Section 9 of the method also requires that specific information be included in a project application before the project can be considered eligible. You should ensure you refer to this section and provide all the required information in your application.

Relevant section of the Act:

• Act – Part 3

Relevant section of the Method:

• Method – Section 5, section 7, and section 9

Project activities

A project involves improving the energy performance of a single building or a group of buildings. The method does not specify particular activities that you must undertake and examples of suitable activities include:

• modifying, installing, removing or replacing energy-consuming or electricity-generating equipment, such as
• upgrading lighting systems
• replacing heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems with more efficient technologies and designs
• upgrading boilers to more efficient, better controlled designs
• installing a co-generation unit
• changing how energy-consuming equipment is controlled or operated, such as
• installing motion sensors or sensor lights
• adopting improved building energy management systems that automatically manage energy consumption
• changing the energy sources used by equipment, such as fuel switching from diesel to natural gas, or
• promoting energy-conserving behaviours to building occupants.

Each activity you undertake must be reasonably expected to reduce emissions and, when combined, all activities must be reasonably expected to improve the NABERS rating of that building by at least one star.

Relevant section of the Act:

• Method – Section 7

How is abatement calculated?

Abatement is calculated by comparing the emissions after a project’s activities with an adjusted emissions baseline by using the NABERS energy ratings and tools​.

The first step is to have an accredited NABERS assessor calculate an initial NABERS energy rating. Alternatively you can use an existing one that was conducted less than 18 months before the start of the project. The adjusted NABERS baseline is then calculated by adding 0.15 to the initial NABERS rating for each year that has passed since the initial NABERS rating. The 0.15 / year increase is known as the annual adjustment factor and reflects business-as-usual energy efficiency improvements.

The theoretical emissions associated with a building’s adjusted baseline NABERS rating are then calculated using the relevant NABERS energy rating reverse calculator. Abatement is then calculated by subtracting the calculated baseline emissions from the measured emissions that occurred during the measurement period.

To receive credit for this abatement, projects must also meet the minimum abatement threshold in at least one measurement period. This minimum threshold requires a 1 star improvement above the building’s baseline NABERS energy rating. Once this requirement is met, all subsequent measurement periods are also eligible to receive credit for the abatement. E.g. if a building met the 1 star improvement threshold in the first measurement period, this period is then eligible to receive carbon abatement and all the subsequent measurement periods are also eligible.

As part of calculating abatement, you must also take into account any emissions produced by electricity and fuel consumption in the building or buildings in your project. The method also takes into account any renewable electricity generated and consumed on site.

Relevant section of the Method:

• Method – Section 7, and Part 4

Reporting requirements

In addition to the reporting requirements of the Act and the Rule, the method also sets out the following method-specific requirements for offset reports.

Section 29 of the method outlines the information that must be included in each offsets report. This includes information regarding:

• building location and activities undertaken
• NABERS energy ratings for each building, and
• abatement calculations for the reporting period.

A reporting period for a project can be either 12 or 24 months, and can encompass either one or two 12-month measurement periods. As described in Section 5 of the method, a measurement period:

• is the period over which a building’s energy consumption must be measured, and
• must coincide with a 12-month NABERS rating period for that building.

Relevant section of the Act:

• Act – Part 6

Relevant section of the Rule:

• Rule – Part 6

Relevant section of the Method:

• Method – Section 5 and, section 29

Monitoring requirements

In addition to the general monitoring requirements of the Act, projects must meet specific monitoring requirements in the method. Section 33 states that you must monitor any renewable electricity generated and consumed onsite at a building.

Relevant section of the Act:

• Act – Part 17

Relevant section of the Method:

• Method - Section 33

Record-keeping

In addition to the record-keeping requirements of the Act and the Rule, projects must also meet the specific record-keeping requirements in the method. Section 31 of the method explains that this includes:

• relevant NABERS energy rating reports
• abatement calculations
• building location
• disposal records for energy-consuming or generating equipment, and for building components, and
• other requirements

Relevant section of the Act:

• Act – Part 17

Relevant section of the Rule:

• Rule – Part 17

Relevant section of the Method:

• Method – Section 31

Audits

All projects receive an audit schedule when the project is declared and must provide audit reports according to this schedule. A minimum of three audits will be scheduled and additional audits may be triggered during a project. For more information on the audit requirements, see the Act, the Rule and the audit information on our website.

Relevant section of the Act:

• Act – Part 19

Relevant section of the Rule:

• Rule – Part 6

Specialist skills recommended

You will need to engage an accredited NABERS assessor to undertake the required NABERS energy assessments.

Other examples of specialist skills you should consider include:

• registered professional engineer
• certified energy manager, or
• certified measurement and verification professional.

Relevant section of the Act:

• Rule – Section 13(f)

Relevant section of the Act:

• Method - Part 1 and, section 16