We administer climate change laws including:

These laws give us monitoring and enforcement powers. We have developed an approach to make sure we administer laws in a transparent and ethical way.

Our approach

We have based our approach on:

  • helping participants understand their rights and obligations
  • supporting those who want to do the right thing
  • using our powers with integrity and professionalism
  • sticking to clear rules when making decisions
  • pursuing scheme participants who break the law opportunistically or deliberately
  • responding to non-compliance proportionately by considering participant compliance history
  • making sure enforcement investigation and resolution is efficient.

We work with other regulatory agencies to support this approach. This includes sharing knowledge, gathering intelligence, or referring matters for law enforcement.

We have different ways of dealing with issues based on the nature of the risk. Our compliance, education and enforcement policy explains this in more detail.

Our priorities

Our approach to compliance is that the obligation to comply with legislative requirements rests with participants. We take a risk-based approach to managing compliance in each scheme and take compliance and enforcement action to ensure the integrity and success of the schemes.

The 2024-2025 Compliance and Enforcement Priorities focus on:

  • the Australian Carbon Credit Unit (ACCU) Scheme
  • the Safeguard Mechanism 
  • the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting (NGER) Scheme and 
  • the Renewable Energy Target (RET) Scheme
  • Greenhouse and Energy Auditors.

We also expect all scheme participants to:

  • provide complete and accurate documentation in support of applications – if they do not, we will issue a request for information and we expect a timely response.
  • notify is of any events relevant to their ongoing fit and proper person status.

Read more about our compliance and enforcement priorities.

Publication of contraventions

In some cases we are legally obliged to publish information.

We also publish:

  • commencement and outcomes of any court action
  • issuance of infringement notices
  • other types of enforcement action.

Our publication of enforcement activities include:

Latest compliance news

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Audit
Compliance
News

Key risk areas for auditors updated

02 December 2024
This updated guidance will help auditors identify key risk areas when conducting audits.
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RET
Compliance
News

Universal Exim’s registration suspended

12 November 2024
We have permanently suspended the registration of Universal Exim Pty Ltd. They can no longer create renewable energy certificates.
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ACCU
Renewable energy
Compliance
News

Have your say: changing our ID requirements

05 November 2024
Consultation open for changes to our identity verification requirements.
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NGER
ACCU
Safeguard
RET
Compliance
News

Compliance update – July to September 2024

24 October 2024
The compliance update for July to September 2024 is now available.
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