Under the Safeguard Mechanism, we're required to publish information relating to facility baselines and emissions.
Baselines are legislated limits on the net emissions of facilities and are set differently depending upon the type that applies.
Net emissions reflect the total covered emissions reported for facilities under the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting (NGER) Scheme. They are adjusted to account for attributable Australian carbon credit units (ACCUs) issued and for ACCUs and Safeguard Mechanism credit units (SMCs) surrendered.
Responsible emitters of facilities with net emissions above their baselines must manage their excess emissions. If their facilities' net emissions are below their baselines, they may be eligible to earn SMCs.
Learn more about safeguard baselines and safeguard net emissions.
Publishing requirements
We're required to publish the following information about baselines and emissions each year for facilities covered by the Safeguard Mechanism:
- the name of the responsible emitter
- total covered emissions, including:
- a breakdown by carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide
- the methods used to estimate fugitive methane emissions from coal mining, oil and natural gas activities.
- the net emissions number, which includes any adjustments made to account for attributable ACCU issuances and ACCUs or SMCs surrendered
- for any ACCUs surrendered:
- a breakdown by method type
- where ACCU surrenders amount to more than 30% of the facility's baseline, the responsible emitter's statement explaining why more on-site abatement activities did not occur.
- the baseline emissions number, including any adjustments made to account for:
- any borrowing adjustment determination
- trade-exposed baseline-adjusted facilities
- multi-year monitoring periods.
- when an excess emissions situation started and ended (this applies if an excess emissions situation exists at the facility after the 1 April compliance deadline)
- when an exemption started and ended (this applies if an exemption declaration has been issued to the facility).
Baselines and emissions table
The table provides information about each facility's baseline and emissions numbers. Additional information related to a particular data set is provided on the specific data page.
ACCU methods table
The table provides information about the ACCU methods related to ACCU surrenders completed by each facility.
ACCU surrender statements
Responsible emitters of facilities that surrender ACCUs equivalent to 30% or more of their baselines are required to provide a statement explaining why they haven't undertaken more on-site abatement activities. A list of facilities and accompanying statements is displayed below.
Publication notes
A registered corporation or a person required to report under the Act may apply to withhold their data from publication. A request can only be made in relation to information that reveals or could reveal a trade secret or any other matter having a commercial value that would be, or could reasonably be expected to be, destroyed or diminished if the information were disclosed specific to the facility or responsible emitter.
For more information, refer to about emissions and energy data.
'Covered Emissions' reflects the total tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2-e) of covered emissions reported for the facility under the NGER Scheme. Equivalence is calculated for each reported greenhouse gas (GHG) using global warming potential values.
'GHG Carbon Dioxide', 'GHG Methane' and 'GHG Nitrous oxide' reflect the amount of covered emissions attributable to each GHG. As these are only 3 types of GHGs reported under the NGER Scheme, their combined values may not match the total covered emissions reported for the facility as a whole. Further information about the methods used to estimate GHG methane for fugitive emissions from coal mining, oil and natural gas activities is available on method data.
Facilities with covered emissions less than the safeguard threshold can apply to receive SMCs where they meet the definition of 'eligible facility' prescribed by section 58B of the Safeguard Rule. Facilities that meet this definition are required to be included in the safeguard data publication in accordance with section 72(1) of the Safeguard Rule, regardless of whether or not they have applied to receive SMCs.
'Net emissions number' reflects a facility's total covered emissions adjusted to account for ACCUs issued, ACCUs deemed surrendered, ACCUs surrendered and SMCs surrendered.
'ACCUs issued' reflects the total amount of attributable ACCUs issued during the monitoring period. These ACCUs are 'added back' to the facility's net emissions number to prevent double counting of emissions.
'ACCUs deemed surrendered' reflects the total amount of attributable ACCUs issued during the monitoring period that are delivered to the Commonwealth under an eligible carbon abatement contract. These ACCUs are deemed surrendered and are subtracted from the facility's net emissions number.
'ACCUs surrendered' and 'SMCs surrendered' reflect the total amount of ACCUs and SMCs surrendered and are subtracted from the facility's net emissions number. Further information about the ACCU Scheme methods related to the ACCUs surrendered by each facility is detailed in the 'ACCU methods data table'.
The quantity of ACCUs surrendered in the 'Baselines and emissions data table' may be larger than the quantity surrendered in the 'ACCU methods data table' where excess units were surrendered for the facility in a previous financial year and carried forward to the current financial year.
'SMCs issued' reflects the number of SMCs issued to a responsible emitter. Only responsible emitters of standard baseline facilities with net emissions below their baseline emissions number before adjustments are made to account for ACCUs and/or SMCs surrendered are eligible to apply for SMCs.
'Net position number' is the amount of tCO2-e that a facility's net emissions number is above or below its baseline emissions number. Excess emissions situation data provides more information about facilities with net emissions above their baseline on 1 April.
'Baseline emissions number' is calculated differently depending upon which safeguard baseline applies to the facility.
The baseline emissions number of standard baseline facilities is calculated by:
- multiplying the amount of product produced for each production variable (PV) at the facility by its corresponding emissions-intensity (EI) value.
- Facilities may have multiple PVs, each identifying a different product or service being delivered and measured in accordance with Schedule 1 of the Safeguard Rule.
- EI is the limit placed on a PV's emissions produced per unit of production. EI is set differently depending upon whether the facility and its PVs are new or existing.
- Existing facilities: The EI of existing PVs covered by an emissions-intensity determination (EID) will transition from being facility-specific to industry average by 2030. The EI of existing PVs not covered by an EID, as well as the EI of all new PVs, is set using the international best practice values in Schedule 1 of the Safeguard Rule. If a best practice value is not available, the EI of existing PVs not covered by an EID is set to zero, and the EI all new PVs is set using the industry average values in Schedule 1 of the Safeguard Rule. Emissions-intensity determination data provides more information about facility-specific EIs.
- New facilities: The EI of all PVs is set using the international best practice values in Schedule 1 of the Safeguard Rule.
- multiplying the sum of this amount by the ERC value, which applies the facility's decline rate in the form of the scaling factor known as the 'emission reduction contribution'.
- The decline rate and resultant ERC value for standard baseline facilities may be lower than the default 4.9% if the facility is also a trade-exposed baseline-adjusted (TEBA) facility. Information about TEBA facilities is published on trade-exposed baseline-adjusted facility data.
- adding the borrowing adjustment amount, if relevant.
- The borrowing adjustment amount will be a positive or negative depending upon whether emissions were borrowed from a future baseline in the current or previous monitoring period.
The baseline emissions number of landfill baseline facilities is calculated by multiplying the amount of emissions produced from waste deposited at the facility after 1 July 2016 by a methane capture efficiency rate of 37.2%, a near-surface methane oxidisation factor of 10%, and the ERC value to apply the facility's decline rate. Lastly, where relevant the borrowing adjustment amount is added.
Where a facility's baseline emissions number is calculated and it amounts to less than 100,000 tCO2-e it is rounded up to the minimum baseline of 100,000 tCO2-e.
Where a multi-year monitoring period (MYMP) applies, the baseline emissions number reflects the facility's baseline calculated as is there was no MYMP in place in the financial year. The 'cumulative MYMP net emissions number' and 'cumulative MYMP net position number' reflect the facility's current net emissions number and net emissions position for the extended monitoring period. Multi-year monitoring period data provides more information.