The leading authority in buying and selling Australian Carbon Credit Units.

What are ACCUs?

ACCUs, or ‘Australian Carbon Credit Units,’ are the credits issued under the Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF) by the Australian Clean Energy Regulator. The Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF) incentivises Australian businesses to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases they produce and to perform activities that store carbon by offering them a tradable commodity known as an ACCU in return. Each credit represents one tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e) greenhouse gas emission reductions and can be sold on to other businesses to enable them to offset their emissions.

What is carbon trading?

Carbon trading is a market based approach for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Legislation determines the level of emissions allowable for an enterprise and any emission beyond this legislated level will result in exorbitant fees payable to the government. Emissions, however, can be offset by carbon credits (ACCUs). High level polluters such as oil and gas companies require a large amount of carbon credits to offset their emissions. Whilst they can produce ACCUs themselves, it is often more prudent for these companies to purchase ACCUs from other enterprises who possess a surplus supply; thus a market is available.

How do I earn ACCUs?

An ACCU can be earned for every tonne of emissions reduced or stored through an implemented project. The project can be in a variety of areas, however, it must:

• be new
• go beyond business-as-usual activities
• not be required by law
• not be receiving financial support from specified government programs, such as the New South Wales and Victorian energy efficiency schemes
• follow an approved method, which sets out the rules for running the project and estimating emissions reductions
• not be an excluded activity listed in the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Regulations 2011 under regulation 3.36 in Division 3.12