The ACCU scheme: Fuelling carbon reduction in Australia

The Australian Government's greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets, now codified in the Climate Change Act 2022 (Cth), mean that energy products will be an increasingly important part of the Australian business and legal landscape. Indeed, at the time of writing, the Clean Energy Regulator (CER), the body responsible for the administration of the Australian Carbon Credit Unit (ACCU) scheme, and the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) are working to establish an exchange for the purchase and sale of carbon units.

In this article we take a brief look at the regulation of the ACCU scheme.

What are ACCUs?

ACCUs are a type of carbon credit. The ACCU scheme operates as part of the Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF) and is designed to incentivise projects which either reduce or avoid greenhouse emissions (avoidance projects) or remove and store carbon from the atmosphere (sequestration projects).