Australia’s Clean Energy Regulator has welcomed the findings of the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) in The Abatement Crediting and Purchasing under the Emissions Reduction Fund report.
The ANAO looked into the legislative and regulatory arrangements of the Emissions Reduction Fund to ensure the scheme operated efficiently.
The Clean Energy Regulator (CER) welcomed the finding that the arrangements and processes were sound, but said they would continue to evolve the systems and processes into the future.
There are currently 631 registered projects, 450 of which were registered under the Emissions Reduction Fund and 181 registered under the Carbon Funding Initiatives.
The audit report recognised the Clean energy Regulated had created appropriate awareness of the fund’s processes and created arrangements to inform potential participants.
The auctions for carbon credits have resulted in 309 contracts for more than 142 million tonnes of abatement or 26 million Australian carbon credit units at a contract value of $1.7 billion.
Originally called the Carbon Farming Initiative, it was established in 2011 to give agricultural, forestry and legacy waste (landfill) emissions sectors a way to earn credits for every tonne of carbon they saved.
In 2014 the name changed to the Emissions Reduction Fund, and allowed all industry sectors access to purchasing Australian Carbon Credit Units to meet Australia’s greenhouse gas reduction targets.
The Clean Energy Regulator is an independent statutory authority and operates as part of the Environment portfolio. For more information on the fund, click here.
