Interoperability allows different systems, devices or applications to exchange and use information in a co-ordinated manner. We are improving the connectivity between our registry and external systems to support deep, liquid and enduring markets.
Unit and Certificate Registry
The Unit and Certificate Registry (the registry) houses the units and certificates administered by the Clean Energy Regulator (CER). It is built on Trovio’s CorTenX – a scalable, customisable and secure technology for environmental assets, which uses an application programming interface (API) first design.
The information on the registry facilitates trading in carbon, renewable energy and nature repair markets, fostering market innovation and growth. Note that this is a digital record system and not a trading platform.
The registry will continue to be upgraded with new functionality and other certificates will be onboarded.
Registry Interoperability Project
The Registry Interoperability Project originated from responses to our industry consultation on the Australian Carbon Exchange proposal. Our purpose is to strengthen connectivity between the registry and external account holder systems and trading platforms.
Interoperability will complement but not replace access via Online Services, giving users different pathways to interact with our systems. These include:
- the Unit and Certificate Registry
- the Australian Carbon Credit Unit Scheme project register
- the Renewable Energy Certificate registry
- Data Services.
Project update
The project has highlighted use cases and needs for interoperability, as well as the relevant legal, IT and security considerations. We have found that legislative changes would be required to implement the prototype registry interoperability models for Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) and Safeguard Mechanism Credit units (SMCs).
We will look to develop basic interoperability features within the existing legislative framework, such as data exchange with third-party registries and public project register APIs. We are continuing to assess options to further improve the registry in the future.
Targeted consultation
We held 3 workshops for consultation in July and August 2025, inviting:
- respondents to our late 2024 consultation on carbon market infrastructure
- other organisations identified as having a strong interest in interoperability with our systems.
The attendees represented our Unit and Certificate Registry account holders, carbon market trading platforms and third-party certificate schemes.
Respondents re-affirmed support for digital interoperability with our systems. They generally welcomed the draft principles for interoperability and found the characterisation of prototype interoperability models to be accurate.
Draft interoperability principles
The following draft principles are informed by targeted consultation.
We welcome further questions and input on the draft principles and possible future interoperability work. If you are interested in joining the stakeholder mailing list or have feedback, email market-engagement@cer.gov.au.
Prototype interoperability models
As part of the project, we identified models for interoperability between the registry and:
- a user’s own registry account
- carbon market trading platforms
- a third-party registry.