Carbon Credits and Other Legislation Amendment (Integrity and Transparency) Bill

Wednesday 16 September 2026

Deputy Speaker, like all responsible nations, Australia is seeking ways to address the harms caused by global warming.

We have made significant progress in creating opportunities for industry to be part of the solution.

This includes incentivising industry to reduce emissions and ensure carbon pollution is addressed by using a carbon crediting market.

Australia has a functioning and robust carbon credit system.

There are small but important changes that can make it better.

The Bill before us today, the Carbon Credits and Other Legislation (Integrity and Transparency) Bill 2026, makes important improvements to three schemes:

• the Australian Carbon Credit Unit Scheme,

• the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Scheme, and;

• the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard Scheme.

The proposed amendments are necessary to strengthen the integrity of the current system and to ensure they make the greatest possible contribution to achieving Australia’s ambitious emissions reduction targets.

For too many years, Australia has been held back by the so-called climate wars, which in some quarters, are unfortunately still ongoing.

However, the majority of Australians, the overwhelming majority of Australians know that climate change is real, and that the transition to renewables is well and truly feasible – and in our economic interest.

Australians can see the real benefits of reducing carbon and of taking up sustainable energy – and we want to do so as soon as possible!

And that’s what the Albanese Government has been doing. We've been:

• we’ve been Investing in solar and batteries;

• we’ve been supporting our electric vehicle market; and,

• and we’ve been protecting and remediating damage to our environment.

Our ongoing challenge remains in reducing emissions and incentivising options for industries to get on board towards our NetZero by 2050 target.

We have a verified and strong foundation for bringing industry with us through our carbon credits system.

This requires a range of agencies and government departments to monitor emissions, regulate the carbon market and drive abatement.

This Bill before the House will make further improvements towards those objectives and towards the imperative of getting Australia to NetZero.

Deputy Speaker, Australia’s carbon crediting system has undergone a series of reviews in recent years to keep up to date with changes in industry and production, continually seeking the best ways to administer a carbon reduction scheme.

Two reviews of various parts of the carbon crediting system, the Independent Chubb Review in 2022, and a Departmental Review delivered in combination 31 recommendations.

The reviews’ recommendations were constructive and focused on:

• enhancing the scheme’s transparency, for example by publishing more project information and publishing decisions made by the Integrity Committee

• strengthening the method review processes, including more regular reviews

• supporting First Nations, rural, regional and remote communities to participate in the scheme; and

• aligning with global carbon market developments where it is in Australia’s national interest.

This Bill to amend three Acts that impact carbon markets and crediting takes up these key issues.

Deputy Speaker At its core, this Bill is about having trust in how we manage our transition to NetZero.

We need to trust that when Australia says a tonne of emissions has been avoided, reduced or stored, that claim stands up to scrutiny.

The Australian Carbon Credit Unit - or ACCU [akku] Scheme - is now a significant national legislative instrument.

It supports landholders, farmers, Traditional Owners, businesses and regional communities to undertake projects that reduce emissions or store carbon.

It also offers a practical pathway for hard-to-abate industries to meet climate obligations while they invest in deeper emissions reductions.

Deputy Speaker, one of the most important aspects of the proposed legislation is its focus on transparency. When information is available:

• Communities can understand what projects are occurring in their region;

• Researchers can test assumptions and assess outcomes;

• Investors can make informed decisions;

• Farmers can better evaluate opportunities; and,

• Australians can have confidence that carbon credits represent genuine environmental outcomes.

Deputy Speaker, several carbon crediting projects operate in my electorate of Whitlam. These include the following projects:

Firstly, LANDCARE Australia’s Tennyson Source project which is an environmental planting program regenerating native tree and shrub species that are local to our area.

Secondly, the Bowral Waste Centre L-F-G Emission Avoidance Project which is installing a new landfill gas collection system to capture and combust gas generated at the landfill from waste.

Thirdly, the Irish Corner Landscape Regeneration project which aims to earn credits by improving soil to help retain carbon and will use pasture cropping for the re-establishment of permanent pasture.

Finally, the Berrima Alternative Fuel Substitution and Kiln Energy Efficiency Project which is earning credits by reducing energy emissions through equipment upgrades.

Regenerating eroded pastureland and remediating industrial areas are worthy approaches to helping decarbonise our atmosphere.

But we need to know that whatever programs we support, they have the social license and full confidence of our communities.

The Chubb Review stressed that a lack of publicly accessible information had contributed to confusion and mistrust.

Australians want confidence that outcomes can be measured, and that credit methods are sound.

The Bill achieves this in a number of ways.

In relation to the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Scheme it will:

• Provide powers to require publication of more information.

• It will close gaps in the compliance framework by ensuring continued reporting obligations by participants, and

• It will allow the Regulator to deregister a corporation on its own initiative where the corporation is in liquidation and unlikely to participate in the Scheme in future.

A second major feature of the Bill is its focus on integrity.

The carbon market only works if carbon credits represent real emissions reductions or carbon storage. Every participant, from Traditional Owners to farmers, to large industrial facilities, relies on that integrity.

If integrity is weakened, everyone loses.

The Bill strengthens our ability to manage emerging integrity risks, provides regulators with better compliance tools, strengthens relinquishment requirements where needed, and expands important fit-and-proper-person provisions.

These reforms are designed to ensure that the market remains credible as it grows and evolves.

When we hear terms like "carbon accounting" we might think they are technical, difficult to understand and best left to experts.

But carbon accounting is simply about accurate measurement.

If a credit is issued for one tonne of abatement, we need confidence that the tonne is measurable and supported by robust evidence.

Strong accounting frameworks mean:

• That Participants know the rules;

• Investors know what they are buying;

• Policymakers know the emissions reductions being claimed are genuine; and,

• communities know environmental outcomes are not merely marketing claims.

This Bill reflects an important lesson from the Chubb Review: integrity can always be improved and that means having a mindset to learn from current practice.

One of the specific proposals concerns the Method Transition Declaration. A method is simply a type of carbon credit earning activity that has been approved.

We will give the Minister necessary powers to stop any project from earning carbon credit if the method or activity becomes seriously compromised and stands to impact on the broader carbon market.

This is a failsafe, a contingency for worst case scenarios that might never eventuate.

But it will ensure that all credit methods remain fair and reliable in relation to each other as methods in the credit system.

This may be important where new proven methods emerge or existing methods wane in efficacy.

Speaker, the Bill also reinforces the independence and capability of the institutions responsible for safeguarding integrity.

It will evolve the Emissions Reduction Assurance Committee into the Carbon Abatement Integrity Committee, with enhanced functions and expertise requirements.

These changes are intended to clarify institutional roles and strengthen confidence that methods are being assessed against rigorous standards.

This has practical significance. Carbon methods determine how emissions reductions are calculated.

Those methods influence investment decisions worth millions of dollars. They shape environmental outcomes on farms, forests, grasslands and industrial facilities.

Australians should therefore expect governance arrangements that are independent, transparent and scientifically robust.

And this Bill is focussed on these outcomes.

There are also provisions in the Bill that encourage and test innovation by requiring that any new R & D into crediting methods are genuinely new Methods.

Speaker, an important feature of the Bill relates to First Nations participation.

For many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, carbon reduction projects represent more than climate action. They represent the creation of opportunities for employment, economic development, cultural renewal and caring for Country.

Across northern Australia and elsewhere, Indigenous-led carbon projects have already demonstrated these benefits in practice.

The Government's response to the Chubb Review specifically recognised the importance of improving support for First Nations peoples to participate in, and benefit from the ACCU Scheme.

The Bill strengthens arrangements concerning native title and claimed native title land by introducing more robust consent processes and recognising registered native title claimants.

These measures seek to ensure that communities are appropriately informed and involved when projects are proposed on land in which they hold rights and interests.

These reforms are not simply legal adjustments. They reflect a broader principle. Projects affecting Country should proceed only with real participation by the people connected to that Country.

When Traditional Owners are leaders and partners in project design and decision-making, outcomes will be stronger and more legitimate.

It is sound environmental stewardship and economically just development.

Speaker, there are additional administrative improvements proposed in the Bill.

These aim to streamline processes for participants in the carbon credit market, such as aligning reporting dates for vehicle manufacturers so that they can comply with fuel efficiency standards agreed across their fleets.

In all cases, we have made administrative process improvements in consultation with stakeholders.

Deputy Speaker, it is worth remembering why these reforms matter beyond the carbon market itself.

Australia is rightly pursuing NetZero emissions by 2050.

Achieving that goal will require action across the economy. Some emissions can be reduced quickly through new technologies. Others are harder and more expensive to eliminate immediately.

A credible carbon market can help lower overall transition costs, support innovation and create opportunities particularly in regional Australia.

For many landholders, participation in carbon projects can diversify income streams and increase resilience in the face of changing climatic conditions.

For regional communities, projects can create jobs and attract investment.

For First Nations communities, they can create pathways that combine economic opportunity with cultural obligations to care for Country.

And environmental outcomes will be seen in the projects that support biodiversity, ecosystem restoration and landscape stewardship.

Achieving our NetZero target requires a full suite of policies and programs. Market mechanisms for decarbonisation are one part of the full suite.

The Bill recognises that public confidence is an important part of how we meet our climate change mitigation targets. It seeks to provide more information, stronger institutions, clearer accountability and improved participation.

And it helps ensure that the ACCU Scheme remains trusted, credible and fit for the future.

For those reasons, I support the Carbon Credits and Other Legislation Amendment (Integrity and Transparency) Bill 2026.

Thank you Deputy Speaker.

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