| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 2 April 2012 |
| Type | Statutory Authority |
| Jurisdiction | Commonwealth of Australia |
| Headquarters | Canberra |
| Annual budget | Clean Energy Regulator Budget information is located here |
| Minister responsible |
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| Agency executive |
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| Parent department | Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water |
| Website | www |
The Clean Energy Regulator (CER) is an Australian independent statutory authority responsible for implementing legislation to reduce carbon emissions and increase the use of clean energy. It was established on 2 April 2012 [1] through the Clean Energy Regulator Act 2011 [2] and is part of the Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water portfolio. It is headquartered in Canberra.
The CER is responsible for administering schemes to report on and manage greenhouse gas emissions, including monitoring and enforcing compliance. These include Australia's carbon offsets and credits schemes.
In the 2020s, the body faced allegations that its carbon offsets were of poor integrity, and that it had not addressed governance problems such as conflicts of interest.
The Clean Energy Regulator administers schemes legislated by the Australian Government for measuring, managing, reducing or offsetting Australia's carbon emissions. These are:
The Clean Energy Regulator’s Quarterly Carbon Market Reports provide a regular view of supply and demand across the carbon markets schemes it administers and explores key factors that influence market performance. The report also provides information on trends and opportunities that may inform market decisions.
The Clean Energy Regulator also administers the Corporate Emissions Reduction Transparency (CERT) report. The CERT report is a voluntary initiative that provides companies with a consistent framework for reporting their emissions reduction and renewable electricity commitments.
The Clean Energy Regulator has faced various allegations that its carbon offset scheme does not effectively reduce emissions.
In 2021, the Australia Institute found that offsets for avoided deforestation do not meet integrity standards. [3] The report found that the total offsets for avoided land clearing were far greater than the amount of land which would have otherwise been cleared. For these offsets to represent real avoided emissions, the institute estimated that the land clearing rate would have needed to be 751% to 12,804% larger.
In 2022, further allegations were made by Andrew Macintosh, the former chair of the body overseeing the Emissions Reduction Fund. [4] Macintosh provided analysis that 80% of the carbon offsets available under the CER's scheme were low-integrity offsets, which did not represent real reductions in overall emissions. [5] These included the CER's three biggest offsetting methods - re-generation of land, avoided deforestation, and a landfill gas scheme. The CER defended the integrity of the scheme. [6]
Ahead of the 2022 federal election, the Labor Party promised an independent review of the integrity of the scheme. After winning power, the Albanese government initiated the review, and named Ian Chubb as its leader. [7] The review found that the scheme's methods were sound, and considered that transparency could be improved. However, the review did recommend the CER stop granting offsets for avoided deforestation, due to the difficulty of assessing intent to clear land. [8] Macintosh wrote that the review had failed to produce evidence to back up its analysis, and had ignored the findings of a report it had commissioned from the Australian Academy of Science. [9]
In 2024, an audit found that the CER had failed to manage conflicts of interest and investigate fraud, and had intimidated scientists seeking to provide submissions. [10] One academic stated that the body had been "captured" by the Carbon Market Institute, an industry lobby group which includes fossil fuel companies.
Environmental finance is a field within finance that employs market-based environmental policy instruments to improve the ecological impact of investment strategies. The primary objective of environmental finance is to regress the negative impacts of climate change through pricing and trading schemes. The field of environmental finance was established in response to the poor management of economic crises by government bodies globally. Environmental finance aims to reallocate a businesses resources to improve the sustainability of investments whilst also retaining profit margins.
The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is a United Nations-run carbon offset scheme allowing countries to fund greenhouse gas emissions-reducing projects in other countries and claim the saved emissions as part of their own efforts to meet international emissions targets. It is one of the three Flexible Mechanisms defined in the Kyoto Protocol. The CDM, defined in Article 12 of the Protocol, was intended to assist non-Annex I countries achieve sustainable development and reduce their carbon footprints, and to assist Annex I countries achieve compliance with greenhouse gas emissions reduction commitments.
Carbon offsetting is a carbon trading mechanism that enables entities to compensate for offset greenhouse gas emissions by investing in projects that reduce, avoid, or remove emissions elsewhere. When an entity invests in a carbon offsetting program, it receives carbon credit or offset credit, which account for the net climate benefits that one entity brings to another. After certification by a government or independent certification body, credits can be traded between entities. One carbon credit represents a reduction, avoidance or removal of one metric tonne of carbon dioxide or its carbon dioxide-equivalent (CO2e).
The European Union Emissions Trading System is a carbon emission trading scheme that began in 2005 and is intended to lower greenhouse gas emissions in the EU. Cap and trade schemes limit emissions of specified pollutants over an area and allow companies to trade emissions rights within that area. The ETS covers around 45% of the EU's greenhouse gas emissions.
Flexible mechanisms, also sometimes known as Flexibility Mechanisms or Kyoto Mechanisms, refers to emissions trading, the Clean Development Mechanism and Joint Implementation. These are mechanisms defined under the Kyoto Protocol intended to lower the overall costs of achieving its emissions targets. These mechanisms enable Parties to achieve emission reductions or to remove carbon from the atmosphere cost-effectively in other countries. While the cost of limiting emissions varies considerably from region to region, the benefit for the atmosphere is in principle the same, wherever the action is taken.
Carbon accounting is a framework of methods to measure and track how much greenhouse gas (GHG) an organization emits. It can also be used to track projects or actions to reduce emissions in sectors such as forestry or renewable energy. Corporations, cities and other groups use these techniques to help limit climate change. Organizations will often set an emissions baseline, create targets for reducing emissions, and track progress towards them. The accounting methods enable them to do this in a more consistent and transparent manner.
The Gold Standard (GS), or Gold Standard for the Global Goals, is a standard and logo certification mark program, for non-governmental emission reductions projects in the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), the Voluntary Carbon Market and other climate and development interventions. It is published and administered by the Gold Standard Foundation, a non-profit foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. It was designed with an intent to ensure that carbon credits are real, verifiable, and that projects make measurable contributions to sustainable development. The objective of the GS is to add branding, with a quality label, to carbon credits generated by projects which can then be bought and traded by countries that have a binding legal commitment according to the Kyoto Protocol, businesses, or other organizations for carbon offsetting purposes.
The energy policy of Australia is subject to the regulatory and fiscal influence of all three levels of government in Australia, although only the State and Federal levels determine policy for primary industries such as coal. Federal policies for energy in Australia continue to support the coal mining and natural gas industries through subsidies for fossil fuel use and production. Australia is the 10th most coal-dependent country in the world. Coal and natural gas, along with oil-based products, are currently the primary sources of Australian energy usage and the coal industry produces over 30% of Australia's total greenhouse gas emissions. In 2018 Australia was the 8th highest emitter of greenhouse gases per capita in the world.
Renewable energy in Australia is mainly based on biomass, solar, wind, and hydro generation. Over a third of electricity is generated from renewables, and is increasing, with a target to phase out coal power before 2040. Wind energy and rooftop solar have particularly grown since 2010. The growth has been stimulated by government energy policy in order to limit the rate of climate change in Australia that has been brought about by the use of fossil fuels. Pros and cons of various types of renewable energy are being investigated, and more recently there have been trials of green hydrogen and wave power.
The Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme was a cap-and-trade emissions trading scheme for anthropogenic greenhouse gases proposed by the Rudd government, as part of its climate change policy, which had been due to commence in Australia in 2010. It marked a major change in the energy policy of Australia. The policy began to be formulated in April 2007, when the federal Labor Party was in Opposition and the six Labor-controlled states commissioned an independent review on energy policy, the Garnaut Climate Change Review, which published a number of reports. After Labor won the 2007 federal election and formed government, it published a Green Paper on climate change for discussion and comment. The Federal Treasury then modelled some of the financial and economic impacts of the proposed CPRS scheme.
Certified emission reductions (CERs) originally designed a type of emissions unit issued by the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) Executive Board for emission reductions achieved by CDM projects and verified by a DOE under the rules of the Kyoto Protocol.
Professor Ross Garnaut led two climate change reviews, the first commencing in 2007 and the second in 2010.
Carbon emission trading (also called carbon market, emission trading scheme (ETS) or cap and trade) is a type of emissions trading scheme designed for carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases (GHGs). A form of carbon pricing, its purpose is to limit climate change by creating a market with limited allowances for emissions. Carbon emissions trading is a common method that countries use to attempt to meet their pledges under the Paris Agreement, with schemes operational in China, the European Union, and other countries.
ecosecurities is a company specialized in carbon markets and greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation projects worldwide. ecosecurities specializes in sourcing, developing and financing projects on renewable energy, energy efficiency, forestry and waste management with a positive environmental impact.
Greenhouse gas emissions by Australia totalled 533 million tonnes CO2-equivalent based on greenhouse gas national inventory report data for 2019; representing per capita CO2e emissions of 21 tons, three times the global average. Coal was responsible for 30% of emissions. The national Greenhouse Gas Inventory estimates for the year to March 2021 were 494.2 million tonnes, which is 27.8 million tonnes, or 5.3%, lower than the previous year. It is 20.8% lower than in 2005. According to the government, the result reflects the decrease in transport emissions due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, reduced fugitive emissions, and reductions in emissions from electricity; however, there were increased greenhouse gas emissions from the land and agriculture sectors.
Emissions reduction currency systems (ERCS) are schemes that provide a positive economic and or social reward for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, either through distribution or redistribution of national currency or through the publishing of coupons, reward points, local currency, or complementary currency.
The Climate Change Response Amendment Act 2008 was a statute enacted in September 2008 by the Fifth Labour Government of New Zealand that established the first version of the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme, a national all-sectors all-greenhouse gases uncapped and highly internationally linked emissions trading scheme. After the New Zealand general election, 2008, the incoming National-led government announced that a Parliamentary committee would review the New Zealand emissions trading scheme and recommend changes. Significant amendments were enacted in November 2009. Obligations for pastoral agriculture were further delayed. Obligations for energy and industry were halved via a "two for one" deal. Free allocation of units to industry was made uncapped and output based and with a slower phase-out. A price cap of $25 NZD per tonne was introduced.
The Verified Carbon Standard (VCS), formerly the Voluntary Carbon Standard, is a standard for certifying carbon credits to offset emissions. VCS is administered by Verra, a 501(c)(3) organization. Verra is a certifier of voluntary carbon offsets. As of 2020 there were over 1,500 certified VCS projects covering energy, transport, waste, forestry, and other sectors. In 2021 Verra issued 300 MtCO2e worth of offset credits for 110 projects. There are also specific methodologies for REDD+ projects. Verra is a program of choice for most of the forest credits in the voluntary market, and almost all REDD+ projects.
A carbon pricing scheme in Australia was introduced by the Gillard Labor minority government in 2011 as the Clean Energy Act 2011 which came into effect on 1 July 2012. Emissions from companies subject to the scheme dropped 7% upon its introduction. As a result of being in place for such a short time, and because the then Opposition leader Tony Abbott indicated he intended to repeal "the carbon tax", regulated organizations responded rather weakly, with very few investments in emissions reductions being made. The scheme was repealed on 17 July 2014, backdated to 1 July 2014. In its place the Abbott government set up the Emission Reduction Fund in December 2014. Emissions thereafter resumed their growth evident before the tax.
Global net zero emissions describe the state where emissions of greenhouse gases due to human activities and removals of these gases are in balance over a given period. It is often called simply net zero. In some cases, emissions refers to emissions of all greenhouse gases, and in others it refers only to emissions of carbon dioxide. To reach net zero targets requires actions to reduce emissions. One example would be by shifting from fossil fuel energy to sustainable energy sources. Organizations often offset their residual emissions by buying carbon credits.
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