Overview
An exposure draft of a new landfill gas method has been prepared to address recommendation 10 of the Independent Review of Australian Carbon Credit Units (Chubb Review) and to meet the objects of the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Act 2011 (CFI Act). The exposure draft of the new method also proposes to continue support for emissions reduction activities included in the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative – Landfill Gas) Methodology Determination 2015 that expired on 31 March 2025. Reforms to the method include:
Incorporating an upward sloping baseline.
Providing a crediting period extension for existing projects, but with an adjustment to their baseline.
Establishing a regulatory baseline factor that must be used if state and territory landfill gas capture regulations mandate gas capture to a level higher than the default baseline factor.
Facilitating additional abatement by incentivising continued investment in existing landfill gas projects.
Improving and strengthening methane measurement requirements used to calculate net abatement from landfill gas projects.
Under section 123D of the CFI Act, before the independent Emissions Reduction Assurance Committee (ERAC) can advise the Minister whether or not to make a methodology determination, the ERAC must publish on the department’s website:
a detailed outline of the proposed determination and
a notice inviting the public to make a submission to the Committee on the detailed outline by a specified time limit.
Please find a detailed outline of the proposed determination below (Exposure Draft, and explanatory statement). In accordance with section 123D the Committee invites submissions on the Exposure Draft by 11:59pm on Thursday, 12 June 2024. This feedback will assist the Committee to assess the proposed method against the legislated offset integrity standards.
The department has separately published supplementary material below. This supplementary material sets out the proposed reforms to the ACCU Scheme landfill gas methods and the evidence that justifies the proposed reforms. This material is intended to assist stakeholders in understanding the evidence base for the proposed reforms and to set out the rationale for the changes. The department invites feedback on the broader impact of the method and has provided specific consultation questions on these.
