Designing the Guarantee of Origin

To develop and co-design the Guarantee of Origin (GO) scheme, we ran trials in partnership with the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.

About the GO trials

We ran the trials as workshops from 2022 to 2023. Participants included stakeholders who operate some of Australia's most progressed hydrogen projects.

In the workshops, we tested design elements for the GO scheme, including:

• metering approaches
• reporting frameworks
• emission intensity calculation methods.

The trials confirmed the GO scheme would assist commercialisation of the hydrogen industry.

Hydrogen Production Emissions Calculator

To support the GO trials, we developed the Hydrogen Production Emissions Calculator. The calculator helps:

• estimate greenhouse gas emissions from hydrogen production
• users to understand what information they might need to report under the GO scheme.

Several trial participants used the calculator to estimate well-to-gate emissions for their projects. They applied methodologies in line with the International Partnership for Hydrogen and Fuel Cells in the Economy (IPHE) guidelines.

Feedback from industry use of the GO calculator helped refine the emissions accounting approach for the GO scheme.

To download the latest version of the calculator and find out more, visit the department’s GO consultation hub.

Trial findings

Final report

The final report is a summary of findings from the phase 2 of the GO trials. Phase 2 included:

• workshops, meetings, and information sharing to test and support the design of the GO scheme
• workshops with hydrogen and ammonia producers and stakeholders to review the updated IPHE 2022 guidelines.​

Key findings:

• Ammonia production and carrier projects indicated strong support for a GO scheme.
• Including transport and storage increases the complexity and reporting requirements of product GO certificates.
• Some carriers have reusable components. For example, a carrying agent can be recycled and returned. This adds complexity to the emissions accounting for certain carriers.

Participants confirmed that GO methodology:

• applied to GO certificates for ammonia should be robust and flexible
• should align with IPHE methodology to ensure consistent regulation with international markets.

Midway r​eport

The midway report is a summary of findings from phase one of the GO trials. Phase one focused on scheme settings and design. It included:

• 19 hydrogen producers and stakeholders using electrolysis, steam methane reforming and coal gasification manufacturing pathways
• workshops, meetings and information sharing to ensure the scheme has integrity, is practical and minimises administrative burden
• testing the emissions accounting methodologies set out by the IPHE Working Paper.

Key findings:

• Trial participants reiterated that effective commercialisation would be aided by a high integrity, government-backed GO scheme that can:
  • demonstrate emissions credentials to hydrogen buyers
  • provide market certainty
  • underpin commercial arrangements.

Trial projects​ ​