Consultation on Safeguard Mechanism reform options
The Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water (DCCEEW) is consulting on options to reform the Safeguard Mechanism to help industry reduce emissions in line with Australia's climate targets.
The Safeguard Mechanism requires Australia's largest greenhouse gas emitters to keep their net emissions below an emissions limit (a baseline). The Australian Government proposes:
- gradually reducing baselines to help Australia reach net zero emissions by 2050
- introducing credits for facilities that emit less than their baseline
- providing tailored treatment to emissions-intensive, trade-exposed facilities so businesses are not disadvantaged compared to international competitors and emissions do not increase overseas.
Visit DCCEEW’s consultation hub for more information on these reforms and the consultation activities.
About safeguard data
Under the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting (Safeguard Mechanism) Rule 2015, the Clean Energy Regulator (the agency) is required to publish the following:
- information about
emissions baseline determinations (baselines)
- for each facility covered by the safeguard mechanism in a reporting year - the baseline emissions number in force for that year, total reported emissions, the responsible emitter(s) for each facility, any Australian carbon credit units surrendered and whether the facility has a multi-year monitoring period in place.
- an estimate of the total number of Australian carbon credit units (ACCUs) likely to be surrendered by facilities with multi-year monitoring periods that are ongoing.
Information about new emissions baseline determinations is published several times a year. Reporting year information and multi-year monitoring period ACCU estimates is published each year, after the 1 March compliance deadline.
Resources
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