Managing excess emissions

Responsible emitters of facilities that exceed or expect to exceed their baselines must manage their excess emissions.

The responsible emitter can:

• surrender Australian carbon credit units (ACCUs) or Safeguard Mechanism credit units (SMCs)
• apply for the facility to become a trade-exposed baseline-adjusted (TEBA) facility
• apply for the facility to borrow baseline from the following year
• apply to extend the facility's baseline under a multi-year monitoring period (MYMP).

It’s important for responsible emitters to plan ahead. Read our CEO and Chair David Parker’s advice for planning how to manage excess emissions in his letter to safeguard facilities.

We're required to publish information about facilities in an excess emissions situation on or after the 1 April compliance deadline. We have a range of enforcement powers available where responsible emitters fail to manage their facilities' excess emissions.

Anti-avoidance measures prevent a responsible emitter from defining or redefining a facility to avoid Safeguard Mechanism obligations. Learn more about reporting under the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting (NGER) Scheme.

Surrender ACCUs and SMCs

Responsible emitters can surrender ACCUs or SMCs to reduce their facilities' net emissions below their baselines.

This can be done through the responsible emitter's Australian National Registry of Emissions Units (ANREU) account. SMCs are managed in ANREU accounts in the new Unit and Certificate Registry. ACCUs remain in the current ANREU system and will be transitioned to the new registry later in 2025.

Responsible emitters can also arrange surrender from another person’s account.

Find out more in our SMC issuance and carbon unit surrender guideline.

Buy ACCUs

Find out how to buy ACCUs on the secondary market.

The cost-containment measure

Responsible emitters of facilities that exceed their baselines may be eligible to buy ACCUs from us.

Find out more about the cost containment measure.

Buy SMCs

Find out about trading SMCs.

Become a TEBA facility

Responsible emitters may apply for their facility to become a TEBA facility.

TEBA facilities receive a discounted baseline decline rate for up to 3 years:

• Responsible emitters of non-manufacturing facilities must show that their facility meets the lower threshold of a cost impact metric based on revenue. The facility may be eligible for a decline rate as low as 2%.
• Responsible emitters of manufacturing facilities must show that their facility meets the lower threshold of a cost impact metric based on ‘earnings before interest and taxation’ (EBIT). The facility may be eligible for a decline rate as low as 1%.

Responsible emitters must also demonstrate their facility:

• is an emissions-intensive trade-exposed facility listed by Schedule 2 of the Safeguard Rule
• meets the lower threshold of the relevant cost impact metric.

Applications need to include an independent audit report. Learn about the application requirements for responsible emitters in our trade-exposed baseline-adjusted determination application guideline.

We must receive TEBA applications by 31 October after the first financial year the facility's baseline is proposed to decrease.

Complete the TEBA application in Online Services.

Borrow from a future baseline

Responsible emitters may apply to borrow from the facility's baseline in the following financial year. The facility’s baseline will then decrease by the borrowed amount the following year, plus:

• 2% interest for the 2024–25 and 2025–26 financial years
• 10% interest for financial years from 2026–27 onwards.

Borrowing applications must:

• specify the facility's proposed borrowing adjustment (up to 10% of the baseline) for the financial year
• demonstrate that the facility is likely to exceed the safeguard threshold in the next financial year.

We won't approve borrowing applications if the facility has:

• an MYMP in place
• been issued SMCs.

We will revoke a borrowing adjustment determination if an MYMP declaration covers that year.

Learn about the application requirements for responsible emitters in our borrowing adjustment application guideline.

We must receive borrowing applications by 28 February after the relevant financial year.

Complete the borrowing application in Online Services.

Apply for a multi-year monitoring period

Responsible emitters with excess emissions and a plan to reduce them over multiple years may apply for an MYMP to extend their facility’s baseline.

An MYMP can be up to 5 years. It gives the responsible emitter more time to implement emissions reduction projects and bring the facility's emissions below its baseline.

Applications for MYMPs must include:

• the duration of the proposed MYMP
• the amount (or reasonably assumed amount) of covered emissions the facility will emit in the first year
• the responsible emitter’s plan to reduce emissions so it is at or below its extended baseline by the end of the MYMP (including a summary for publication on our website)
• an explanation of any known risks that might cause the facility to exceed its extended baseline
• the signature of a responsible financial officer for the responsible emitter or a person they've authorised.

MYMPs are limited to an end date of 30 June 2030.

If you have an MYMP in place at your facility, you may apply to:

• reduce the MYMP to a minimum of 2 years
• extend the MYMP to a maximum of 5 years
• revoke the MYMP.

We may reduce the length of your MYMP if you aren't reducing emissions.

We'll revoke a borrowing adjustment determination if it includes a year covered in an MYMP declaration.

At the end of the MYMP, you must explain how the facility performed against the emissions reduction plan. The explanation must be submitted to us by 31 October after the MYMP has ended. We will publish the explanation on our website.

Learn about the application requirements for responsible emitters in our Safeguard Mechanism multi-year monitoring period application guide.

We must receive MYMP applications by 15 November after the first financial year of the proposed MYMP.

Complete the MYMP application form in Online Services.

Apply for an exemption

Responsible emitters may apply for an exemption if their facility is likely to exceed its baselines as a direct result of:

• a natural disaster
• criminal activity.

Applications for exemptions must specify:

• the monitoring period to which the exemption will apply
• the natural disaster or criminal activity that impacted the facility
• how the event directly resulted in the excess emissions situation
• the reasonable steps you've taken to mitigate the risks of excess emissions:
  • before the event (like emergency shut-down procedures)
  • after the event (like replacing damaged emissions reduction equipment).

We won't approve applications if the excess emissions are an indirect result of the event. For example, where the responsible emitter's response to market changes caused by the natural disaster results in the excess.

We must receive exemption applications by 31 October after the relevant financial year.

We may revoke an exemption declaration if the application contains false or misleading information.