The 'Guidelines for Calculating Regulatory Baselines for Legacy Waste Landfill Methane Projects' (Regulatory Baseline Guidelines) set out the requirements for establishing a baseline for Emissions Reduction Fund projects under the following methodologies:
- Carbon Farming (Capture and Combustion of Methane in Landfill Gas from Legacy Waste) Methodology Determination 2012
- Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) (Capture and Combustion of Methane in Landfill Gas from Legacy Waste: upgrade projects) Methodology Determination 2012
The 'Guidelines for Calculating Regulatory Baselines for Legacy Waste Landfill Methane Projects' state that
"Where the landfill operator is subject to legislation or guidelines for waste management and landfills, or has a licence condition or development approval, which includes, or has had at any time since 24 March 2011 included, any form of general or specific qualitative requirement to capture, control, manage or limit landfill gas, methane, odour or greenhouse gases, then for the purposes of the Emissions Reduction Fund this means that the landfill operator is required to capture 30 per cent of landfill methane."
The NSW Environmental Protection Authority has issued 'Environmental Guidelines: Solid Waste Landfills' which state that the
"Landfill gas must be controlled in such a way that:
- greenhouse gas emissions are minimised, and
- odorous emissions meet relevant environmental legislation."
The Clean Energy Regulator considers that the 'Environmental Guidelines: Solid Waste Landfills' issued by the NSW Environmental Protection Authority are "guidelines for waste management and landfills" which for the purposes of Emissions Reduction Fund constitute a "general … qualitative requirement to control, manage or limit landfill gas" as outlined in the 'Guidelines for Calculating Regulatory Baselines for Legacy Waste Landfill Methane Projects'. Emissions Reduction Fund landfill gas from legacy waste projects in NSW are therefore subject to the baseline requirement of 30 per cent.