Under a fixed delivery carbon abatement contract, you must ensure you can deliver the agreed quantity of Australian carbon credit units (ACCUs) set out in the delivery schedule.
If your project can’t deliver the agreed quantity of ACCUs by the due date (milestone), you can:
- source the difference from your other projects or the secondary market
- apply for the fixed delivery exit arrangement.
Previous exit arrangements
The previous fixed delivery exit arrangements gave sellers the option to make an exit payment instead of delivering ACCUs under a carbon abatement contract.
The exit payment was calculated by multiplying the contract price by the quantity of outstanding ACCUs for the milestone.
Future exit arrangements
There are currently no open exit windows.
If you would like to receive updates on future fixed delivery exit arrangements, please subscribe to the ACCU Scheme subscriber list.
Fourth exit window
The fourth pilot exit window is now closed. This window covered delivery milestones between 1 July 2023 and 31 December 2024.
During this window, 4.5 million Australian carbon credit units (ACCUs) exited and 2.4 million were delivered. This means the cost containment measure now holds 3.9 million ACCUs.
Find out more about the fourth pilot exit window outcomes.
Delivery obligations
Sellers are expected to comply with their contract delivery obligations and should be prepared to exit or deliver against applicable milestones by the scheduled delivery date.
You are required to deliver the contract milestone in full if:
- you haven’t met the exit arrangement requirements
- you don’t pay your exit payment invoice on time.
Safeguard facilities and exit arrangements
Exiting a contract delivery milestone does not count as delivery of ACCUs to the Commonwealth for the purposes of the Safeguard Mechanism (i.e. ‘deemed surrender’) and will not reduce the net emissions number of a safeguard facility.
The facility emissions can only be reduced through:
- surrender of ACCUs and Safeguard Mechanism credit units to the Commonwealth by the facility
- sale of ACCUs to the Commonwealth under an eligible carbon abatement contract.
For more information about the Safeguard Mechanism, please contact safeguardbaselines@cer.gov.au.
Market information
The volume of ACCUs released under exit arrangements are published on the carbon abatement contract register to support transparency and inform market decisions.
Exit arrangements are optional. The volume of ACCUs released from contractual obligations may not equal the volume of ACCUs released to the market.
ACCUs may not be released to the market for a number of reasons, including if:
- ACCUs were delivered as scheduled under contract
- ACCU delivery was rescheduled using existing flexibility arrangements
- sellers have agreements with private buyers, which prevents ACCUs released under exit arrangements from going on the spot market.
There are around 84 million ACCUs scheduled to be delivered under fixed delivery carbon abatement contracts. We will continue to manage carbon abatement contracts in line with our contract management approach and contract management process.
The contract register contains more information on deliveries under contracts.
The Quarterly Carbon Market Report provides information on ACCU holdings and trading.
Previous exit windows
| Window | ACCUs released |
|---|---|
| First pilot exit window (4 March 2022 to 30 June 2022, with an extension available under transitional arrangements to 31 August 2022) | 2.6 million |
| Second pilot exit window (1 July 2022 to 31 December 2022, with an extension available under transitional arrangements to 28 February 2023) | 1.7 million |
| Third pilot exit window (1 January 2023 to 30 June 2023, with an extension available under transitional arrangements to 31 August 2023) | 4.1 million |
| Fourth pilot exit window (1 July 2023 to 31 December 2024) | 4.5 million |