Introduction

The Corporate Emissions Reduction Transparency (CERT) report is a voluntary initiative for eligible companies to present a snapshot of progress on their emissions reduction and renewable electricity commitments.

This guide will help readers understand and interpret the range of commitment and reporting options used in the CERT report 2024. Definitions of key terms can be found in the CERT report 2024 glossary.

Overview

Each participating company’s CERT report shows:

  • accounting approach – outlines the reporting period, scope 2 method and reporting boundary the company uses to report their information and data
  • commitment cards – show snapshots of voluntary emissions reduction and/or renewable electricity commitments made by the company and the progress made for those commitments
  • net emissions and renewable electricity – show the company’s total scope 1 and scope 2 emissions, and renewable electricity percentage for the reporting year for activities occurring in Australia
  • surrendered units and certificates details, where provided 
  • supporting information.

The data workbook contains additional information regarding each company’s commitments, including the calculations we use to assess Clean Energy Regulator (CER) data verified commitments.

Updates for 2024

Based on feedback from participating companies and other stakeholders, updates have been made to the CERT report 2024. These changes allow for the inclusion in company reports of:

  • ANZSIC codes to allow cross-industry comparison and increased transparency
  • year-on-year progress for commitments made by companies that have participated in the CERT since 2022. 

Accounting approach

Companies that participate in the CERT report must follow the CERT report 2024 guidelines. These guidelines specify the information companies can provide for inclusion in their CERT report. However, there is some flexibility to allow companies to align their CERT report with their publicly disclosed commitments. The CERT report aims to accommodate the complexity of joint venture arrangements and international corporate structures. The reporting choices made by companies affect how we calculate progress on their CER data verified commitments, and how their net emissions position and renewable electricity percentage is presented. 

Companies can choose an accounting approach in their CERT report for the:

  • reporting period – either financial year (the default to align with the NGER reporting period) or calendar year
  • scope 2 method – scope 2 emissions can be either calculated on a location or market basis
  • reporting boundary – operational control (the default, aligning with how NGER data is calculated) or equity share (where a company share working interest in facilities).

Details of scope 2 accounting calculations can be found in the CERT report 2024 guidelines and supporting examples. Some calculation terms based on calendar year (for example, the renewable power percentage) are adjusted if the company selects the financial year reporting period. 

When reporting on a calendar year or equity share basis, companies can choose either:

  • provide multipliers to adjust their NGER-reported emissions and electricity data
  • provide emissions and electricity data that has been independently assured for their net emissions and renewable electricity calculations.

More details are provided in the ‘Notes’ field of a company’s CERT report if applicable.

Commitment cards

Each commitment card represents an emissions reduction or renewable electricity commitment. Companies can have multiple commitments, as well as commitments for their subsidiaries. 

There are 3 types of commitments that can be included in a company’s CERT report: 

The commitment and context statements are provided by the company. The commitment statement summarises the commitment in the company’s own words. The context statement is an opportunity to provide additional, qualitative information to help readers understand the company’s operating environment. Additional details are also presented where they have been provided by the company, such as:

  • emissions coverage (scope 1, 2 or 3)
  • whether the commitment applies to global efforts
  • other frameworks under which the commitment is reported.

CER data verified commitments

CER data verified commitments where the CER has sufficient data to calculate and verify progress. 

These commitment cards are labelled CER data verified. The CER uses its data holdings, data-matching and other internal processes to calculate and verify a company’s progress on its commitments. The progress percentage value represents the percentage of the commitment goal achieved to date, along with absolute progress (for example, tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2-e)).

Following each progress percentage value is a short description of the information used to calculate progress, such as: 

  • goal (for example, 75% reduction)
  • net, gross, or combined emissions reduction commitment
  • baseline year (if applicable).

Independently assured commitments

Independently assured commitments have received limited or reasonable assurance from an independent and suitably qualified assurance provider for commitment data. This data is provided by the company and is used in the calculation of progress on the commitment. 

The underlying progress data is not verified by the CER. The CER calculates the progress percentage according to the CERT report calculation methodology outlined in the guidelines. The progress percentage value represents the percentage of the commitment goal achieved to date, along with an absolute progress figure.

Companies choosing this option may have commitments that cannot be verified using data held by the CER yet wish to recognise that their progress has been independently assured by a third-party. Such commitments may include those related to scope 3 emissions, emissions intensity of products, and international emissions reductions. The progress data for these commitments must have received limited or reasonable assurance from an independent assurance provider in accordance with relevant standards and accounting methods.

You can read more about the difference between assurance levels.

Along with the level of assurance provided, other details about the assurance engagement are presented under the progress details, including:

  • assurance provider – the company that provided the assurance statement or report
  • assurance standard(s) applied – the Australian or International assurance standard, that is ASAE 3000 or ASAE 3410 for Australian information, or ISAE 3000, ISAE 3410 or ISO 14064-3 for international information
  • accounting method(s) used – the emissions reporting or accounting standard(s) or method(s) used when calculating the independently assured progress metric.

Company assured commitments

Company assured commitments apply where progress cannot be calculated using data held by the CER and an independent assurance statement has not been provided. Such commitments may include those related to scope 3 emissions, the emissions intensity of products, and international emissions reductions.

The CERT report guidelines allow companies to choose how to frame these commitment statements. Companies are responsible for providing their own updates regarding progress on commitments. Updates can be qualitative or quantitative information and are not verified by the CER.

Net emissions and renewable electricity

This section of a company’s CERT report shows the following information for the chosen reporting period for activities occurring in Australia:

  • gross and net emissions
  • electricity use
  • renewable electricity percentage
  • large-scale generation certificate (LGC) surrenders. 

The values in the table are calculated by the CER, with the underlying data collected and verified by the CER or provided by the participating company with independent assurance.

The total net emissions are shown as a sum of scope 1 and scope 2 net emissions for the company.

The location-based data for scope 2 emissions is shown for all companies and they can choose to not have their market-based data displayed. Participating companies are required to report their scope 2 emissions under both location- and market-based accounting approaches. Dual reporting is in accordance with international best practice emissions accounting outlined in the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Scope 2 guidance and the Australian Government’s Climate Active initiative. 

The emissions data for companies reporting on a calendar year or equity share basis may vary from their NGER-reported data. In this case, the quantities are based on either multiplier-adjusted NGER data and presented as CER data verified, or on separately provided independently assured data with assurance details included.

Applying multipliers to NGER-reported data

Companies that report equity share data using the multiplier method must supply equity share percentages for each NGER facility in which they have an ownership share including those outside of their operational control. Emissions and electricity values are adjusted accordingly. 

Companies that report calendar year data using the multiplier method must supply multipliers to reflect how their data has varied from their NGER-reported financial year data to the most recent calendar year. Their historic calendar year data is estimated as the average of the two overlapping NGER reporting years.

Using independently assured data

Companies reporting equity share or calendar year data using the independent assurance method must provide an assurance statement from an independent and suitably qualified assurance practitioner for all metrics used in the calculation of net emissions and renewable electricity use. Net emissions calculations and renewable electricity use are based on the independently assured quantities according to the CERT report calculation methodology described in the CERT report 2024 guidelines. Details of the assurance engagement are shown in the notes section below the net emissions and renewable electricity data.

Notes

The notes provide additional information to assist readers in interpreting the net emissions and renewable electricity data. Notes in this section also outline how company data presented in the CERT report may differ from company data published elsewhere. For example, where a company has chosen calendar year reporting for their CERT report, a note is provided in this section to inform readers that the company’s CERT report may not align with their NGER-published data, as the NGER scheme operates on a financial year basis.

Surrendered units chart

Some company CERT reports show the proportion and number of units cancelled, retired, or surrendered by the company for the reporting year. Units may not necessarily be surrendered against specific commitments. Units may have been surrendered by a third party on behalf of the company (for example, Australian carbon credit units (ACCUs) procured from third party carbon offset providers). Where no units have been surrendered by the company in relation to their CERT report ‘no units surrendered’ will be displayed.

Units surrendered by companies in relation to scope 3 emissions are not included in the chart but may be noted in the commitment or company context statements.

Supporting information

Context

The supporting information section in a company’s CERT report shows the broader context relevant to the participating company’s net emissions position, emissions reduction or sustainability efforts that may not relate directly to their commitments. This information is provided by the company.

Resources

The resources section in a company’s CERT report provides links to the: