Climate Change Minister flags new carbon market rules
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The news: The Australian government will allow two new methods to create the Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) that are OTC and exchange-traded in voluntary and regulatory markets.
The numbers: Two exposure drafts for new legislation covering carbon sequestration as well as one covering the use of landfill gas, will be released.
The context: Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen and Assistant Climate Change and Energy Minister Josh Wilson will flag the new exposure drafts, for which carbon market participants have been lobbying, in a speech to the Carbon Market Institute conference in Melbourne on Thursday morning.
If legislated, these new rules will allow carbon farmers more ways to adjust the use of their land to store carbon in soils or sequester it underground to generate credits which can then be sold to banks and other institutions that trade ACCUs.
A third method covering activities that avoid emissions being created, rather than reducing existing ones, covering savannah fire management, is due for release in October. All three new methods are subject to approval from the Emissions Reduction Avoidance Committee.
The landfill gas method combines two older methodologies that were overhauled following strident criticism in the Chubb Review into carbon credits, which raised concerns over the integrity of carbon markets.
What they said: "This method will build and grow the vast number of savanna fire management projects currently registered under the [ACCU] Scheme. Projects under the new method will mean more First Nations jobs on Country, more income from the sale of ACCUs, and increased capacity to care for Country, culture and communities," Minister Bowen said.
The source: Chris Bowen Media Release
