The Climate Change Authority (the Authority) has conducted a consultation on its Issues Paper: Enhancing the ACCU Scheme to support Australia’s 2035 emissions reduction target (the Issues Paper).
Climateworks recommends:
- developing integrated system planning for landscapes which would guide land use change decisions including those incentivised under the Australian Carbon Credit Unit (ACCU) market
- reviewing ACCU objectives to improve coherence and cost-effectiveness in meeting both biodiversity and climate targets. Exploring the implications of mandated nature repair outcomes in ACCUs
- prioritising attributes such as biodiversity, durability and socioeconomic benefits in any future government purchasing strategies to ensure ACCU projects deliver nature-positive outcomes alongside carbon benefits.
- exploring during the review how to encourage usage of ACCUs as a complement to direct emissions reductions, such that this use does not delay abatement across all sectors
- Climate Change Authority conducts further analysis to examine how potential supply, method pipelines, land‑use choices and compliance strategies could influence price dynamics. This analysis would enable the Authority to determine how changes to ACCUs and the Safeguard Mechanism can most effectively drive action in line with Australia’s obligations under the Paris Agreement.
More detail on these recommendations can be found in the submission [PDF 0.3mb].