You may have to report under the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting (NGER) Scheme if you are a company that meets an NGER threshold. This could be either directly or via companies within your corporate group that have operational control of a facility.
NGER thresholds
There are 2 types of thresholds that determine a company’s obligation under the NGER Act: facility thresholds and corporate group thresholds.
The facility thresholds are:
- 25,000 tonnes or more of carbon dioxide equivalence (CO2-e) (scope 1 and scope 2 emissions)
- production of 100 terajoules (TJ) or more of energy, or
- consumption of 100 TJ or more of energy.
The corporate group thresholds are:
- 50,000 tonnes or more of CO2-e (scope 1 and scope 2 emissions)
- production of 200 TJ or more of energy, or
- consumption of 200 TJ or more of energy.
If your corporation's group only triggers facility level thresholds, you only need to report on those individual facilities.
Who must report under NGER
Controlling corporations or group members may have reporting obligations under NGER. It's important to correctly identify group members because this determines which facilities the controlling corporation must report on.
If you have reporting obligations, you must register as an NGER reporter.
Controlling corporation
Section 12 of the NGER Act states that a controlling corporation must register if the corporation’s group meets one or more of the thresholds set out in section 13. Section 7 of the NGER Act defines a controlling corporation as a constitutional corporation that does not have an Australian incorporated holding company.
It's usually the company at the top of the corporate hierarchy in Australia. It can be a non-operational holding company that doesn't handle day-to-day business.
A controlling corporation can also be a foreign incorporated company that operates directly in Australia without an Australian incorporated subsidiary.
If you're having trouble identifying your controlling corporation, you can seek professional services advice.
Constitutional corporations
A constitutional corporation is a foreign, trading or financial corporation:
- formed within the limits of the Commonwealth
- that the Australian Government has power to make laws for under the Australian Constitution.
To determine if an incorporated government agency (such as a local council) is a constitutional corporation, you should consider:
- if the council is 'trading' where trading is considered to be the provision of goods and services for reward, rather than goods and services provided under obligation (for example, maintaining roads and collecting residents’ rubbish)
- whether the trading activities form a substantial or sufficiently significant proportion of all total activities of the council.
If you aren't sure if an incorporated government agency is a constitutional corporation, you should seek independent legal advice.
For more information, see our registration as a controlling corporation guideline.
Group member
A company’s group may consist of a controlling corporation only or it may include subsidiaries. A 'subsidiary' is defined in section 48 of the Corporations Act 2001.
For the purpose of NGER, subsidiaries are called group members.
A foreign controlling corporation will not have any group members. This is because a foreign corporation is only required to apply for registration under section 12 of the NGER Act where the foreign corporation itself has operational control over a facility.
If the foreign corporation had a subsidiary that had operational control over a facility, the subsidiary should apply for registration as a controlling corporation.
What is an NGER facility
Companies need to identify facilities under their operational control, or which have operational control of their group members.
A facility is an activity or series of activities (including ancillary activities) that generate greenhouse gas emissions and produce or consume energy. A facility will need to form a single undertaking or enterprise and meet the requirements of the Regulations.
The definition of a facility for the purposes of NGER is broad to allow different industries to accurately define their facility boundaries.
To understand what a facility is, refer to:
- section 9 of the NGER Act
- division 2.4 of the Regulations
- our guide on defining a facility for NGER.
In some circumstances, controlling corporations can apply to declare a facility under section 54 of the NGER Act. To do this, you must contact us.
We can also declare an activity or series of activities to be a facility.
Safeguard facilities
Safeguard facilities are specific activities that have high levels of direct emissions. They are subject to the Safeguard Mechanism.
Safeguard facilities must either:
- keep their emissions below a baseline
- manage any excess emissions.
Designated generation facilities
A designated generation facility (DGF) is a facility whose principal activity is electricity production.
Facilities that generate electricity for their own use or as a secondary activity are not considered a DGF.
National transport facility
A person may nominate to have their state or territory-based transport facilities defined as a single national transport facility for the purposes of reporting under the NGER Act.
Download the national transport facility nomination form [DOCX 104 KB]
Multi-site cement facility
A person who operates a business producing cement at multiple sites can nominate to report cement production activities as a single multi-site cement facility.
Download the multi-site facility nomination form [DOCX 124 KB]
Assess if you have to report
Follow these steps to assess if you have reporting obligations under the NGER Scheme.
You're responsible for assessing your own obligations under the NGER Act. If you're unsure, contact us.
Your controlling corporation is the entity that will need to be registered if it, or any of its group members, meet any of the reporting thresholds.
A corporation will have operational control over a facility if it has the authority to introduce and implement 3 types of policies for the facility:
- operating policies
- health and safety policies
- environmental policies.
If more than one corporation has the authority to introduce and implement policies, the corporation with the greatest authority for operating and environmental policies has operational control over the facility.
The person with operational control of a safeguard facility is known as a 'responsible emitter'.
To find out more about how to identify the corporation with operational control, download our operational control supplementary guideline.
Declarations or nominations for operational control
Where there is an equal share of operational control and one person or corporation will take on reporting responsibilities or where operational control can't be agreed, you can:
- nominate operational control for a facility (section 11B of NGER Act)
- apply for a declaration of operational control (section 54 of NGER Act)
Before you make a declaration or nomination, you should contact us. You will need to complete and submit an application form.
Download the nomination of operational control for a facility form [PDF 411.46 KB]
Download the application for declaration of operational control [PDF 625.24 KB]
Change in operational control
The corporation with operational control of a facility can change. For example, where a facility is sold part way through the year.
If the corporation with operational control changes, each corporation needs to report for the part of the year they were in control.
Part year reporting does not apply where ownership of the controlling corporation or group member changes, but operational control of a facility does not.
For more information, download our guides:
Once you identify your controlling corporation, its group members and the facilities under its control, you can estimate if your emissions, energy production or consumption meet any of the reporting thresholds.
If you meet any of these thresholds, you have reporting obligations under the NGER Act.
Estimate emissions and energy
When estimating emissions and energy data, you must consider all activities that take place at the facility under your control. This includes activities of contractors and sub-contractors.
You can start by considering your emissions and energy costs. Do this by compiling bills for gas, electricity, diesel and other fuels, and waste.
You can use our threshold calculator to help you estimate if you meet any of the reporting thresholds.
For more information on reporting obligations relating to contractors and sub-contractors, download our contracts and leasing guideline.
Transfer reporting obligations
In certain circumstances, a controlling corporation can transfer its reporting obligations for individual facilities.
For more information on transferring reporting obligations, refer to report emissions and energy.