2023 NGER Act Review
The Climate Change Authority has released its second review of the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting (NGER) legislation.
The authority is required to review the operation of the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act 2007 (NGER Act) every five years. The authority’s review of the NGER legislation is required to be delivered to the Minister for Climate Change and Energy by 31 December 2023, as is the authority’s 2023 review of the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Act 2011 (ACCU Scheme Review) which is reviewed every three years.
The NGER legislation establishes:
-
the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting scheme
-
the Safeguard Mechanism
-
a framework for the administration and compliance for these schemes.
The authority’s 2023 review of the NGER legislation primarily focused on the NGER scheme. The reformed Safeguard Mechanism only recently commenced operation and sufficient data are not yet available to assess its performance.
The NGER scheme is performing well but the time is right to make some changes to ensure it remains fit-for-purpose.
The momentum of the global net zero transition is changing the domestic and international data needs for many countries. Australia’s NGER scheme is well-established and reputable but it is important to how the scheme may need to evolve in response to these changes—whether that be to meet new expectations from the public, improve or enhance the interactions of the NGER scheme with new reporting initiatives, or ensure it remains best practice.
The authority recognises these changing needs. The authority’s 2023 review puts forward 25 recommendations for the government to consider, relating to the following key themes of the NGER scheme:
-
NGER scheme coverage including reporting thresholds and sectoral coverage
-
Transparency and confidentiality
-
Estimation methods, with a focus on fugitive methane measurement, reporting and verification
-
Administration and compliance of the NGER scheme.
Consultation
The authority undertook broad consultation to inform its review of the NGER legislation. This included releasing an Issues Paper, conducting workshops on fugitive methane measurement, reporting and verification, and a public survey on the key themes of the review. The document below outlines the authority’s consultation activities and a summary of what we heard.
The authority would like to thank the many individuals and organisations who contributed their time and expertise to support its analysis.
Process
The authority has sought to conduct the review in an open and transparent manner, including in relation to public consultation and probity matters.
The authority manages conflict of interest issues in accordance with the Authority Charter, which implements governance frameworks in the Climate Change Authority Act 2011, Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013, and Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Rule 2014.
For this review, authority member, Ms Susie Smith, declared material personal interests relating to the subject matter. The remaining members agreed, due to the declared conflicts of interests, that Ms Smith should not participate in the authority’s work on the review.
If you have any questions about the review, please contact the authority via enquiries@climatechangeauthority.gov.au
-
2018 Review of National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act
21 December 2018: The Climate Change Authority has published its latest five-yearly legislative review of the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting legislati