As part of the implementation of the Independent Review of Australian carbon credit units (ACCUs), the Australian Government will consult stakeholders on the purpose and role of the Australian Government purchasing of ACCUs. This will help inform who is the best-placed entity to host the ACCU purchasing function (recommendation 3.3). Read more about the Independent Review of ACCUs on the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water’s website.

Before bidding in an ACCU auction, you must first qualify to participate. An application to qualify for an auction also acts as an offer to enter into a carbon abatement contract with the Clean Energy Regulator, on behalf of the Commonwealth of Australia. This is the first step in the auction and contract establishment process.

Auction qualification forms must be completed through the client portal at least 20 days before an auction. If approved, an auction qualification is valid for 12 months. Generally, you do not need to re-qualify a project to participate at auction during this period provided there has been no change to the information supplied at the time of the qualification application, and the project has not been varied.

The auction qualification process allows the Clean Energy Regulator to:

• make a decision about whether it is appropriate for the government to enter into a contract with an applicant and their project, and
• set the commercial terms of your contract. These commercial terms provide information about the seller under the contract (including financial details), the project associated with the contract, an indication of the Kyoto Australian carbon credit units (ACCUs) that will be delivered under the contract, and any conditions that must be met before the contract will commence.

Submitting an application form

To apply for auction qualification you must provide the Clean Energy Regulator with:

• your details (including an address for contractual notices) and the details of any authorised bidders and authorised representatives who may act on your behalf
• the bank account details for payments that will be made under the contract
• details about the registered ACCU Scheme project(s) that will deliver the abatement under the contract. Each project can only be associated with a contract at a time
• an indication of the amount of abatement you will provide under the contract (the indicative agreed quantity) and the contract term which must be from 1–10 years, depending on your project method
• details about any conditions precedent that will need to be fulfilled before the delivery and purchase obligations commence, and
• confirmation that you agree to the documentasset::Code of Common Terms when qualifying to participate in an auction.

Auction qualification assessment

The Clean Energy Regulator will assess each auction qualification by determining your ability to deliver the proposed quantity of Kyoto ACCUs from the project, and your past performance with both contracted and non-contracted projects. This may include an assessment of the following:

• compliance issues in relation to previous projects and contracts, including delays or failure to deliver contracted abatement, and
• whether your current project portfolio is sufficient to support your current contracts.

To complete our assessment, we may ask you to provide additional information, or invite you to revise the agreed quantity where there are doubts as to your projects capacity to deliver.

Authorised bidders and authorised representatives

As part of your auction qualification application, you must nominate at least one authorised bidder, and at least one authorised representative. You can nominate yourself, an employee in your company or an agent.

An authorised bidder has the authority to:

• apply to register a participant or project for an ACCU auction
• submit the delivery terms, including the delivery schedule of the offer
• make and withdraw bids
• provide the ​financial terms of the offer for the project at ACCU auctions, and
• withdraw an auction registration.

An authorised representative has the authority to provide binding notices on behalf of the seller under the carbon abatement contract that is formed when the bid is successful, without needing to provide proof of authority each time. Examples of notices include:

• delivery failure
• early delivery requests
• administrative variations (such as bank account information)
• force majeure events, or
• contract termination.

An authorised representative can also send, on behalf of the seller, all certificates, consents, approvals, waivers and other communications in connection with the contract.

Signing the auction qualification and authorised bidder forms

All auction qualification and authorised bidder forms must be signed by an individual or organisation that has the authority to enter into a carbon abatement contract on behalf of the seller.

• If the applicant is an individual, that person must sign these forms.
• If an applicant is an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporation, the forms must be signed by:
  • two directors of the company
  • a director and a corporation secretary, or
  • if the corporation has only one director, the director alone.
• If an applicant is a company registered with the Corporations Act 2001, the forms must be signed by:
  • two directors of the company
  • a director and a company secretary or,
  • if the company is a proprietary company that has a sole director who is also the sole company secretary, that director alone.

If the signatory does not meet the above requirements, applicants must provide evidence such as extracted minutes of a board resolution, a power of attorney, or a letter addressed to the Clean Energy Regulator from a legal counsel to the applicant, confirming they have authority to act on behalf of the applicant for the purposes of entering into a carbon abatement contract.