What Should Companies Consider Before Buying ACCUs?

Two suppliers can offer the same number of Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) and leave you with very different purchases. One may have credits ready to transfer from several projects. Another may offer credits from a named native planting project, with delivery once the regulator issues the next batch. Which offer fits depends on what you need the credits for, when you need them and what you need to be able to show after the purchase.

What are you buying the ACCUs for?

Start with the intended use. It tells you which details are essential and where you have room to compare options.

• Safeguard compliance. Identify the facility, the period you need to cover and the remaining gap after allowing for units you already hold or have contracted. Set a delivery date that leaves time for surrender. That’s the registry step that applies the units to the facility’s obligation. Read how ACCUs and SMCs work under the Safeguard Mechanism.
• Voluntary use. Check any programme rules or internal purchasing criteria and decide what you expect to say about the purchase. If your company wants to support a particular activity or talk about wider project benefits, agree what evidence you’ll need before asking for offers.

With the purpose clear, separate your requirements from your preferences. You might need delivery by a fixed date and prefer credits from a particular region. Giving suppliers both pieces of information lets them show you an offer that meets the deadline, along with any options that also match your preference.

Which project types fit your purchase?

Each ACCU represents one tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent avoided or stored by an eligible Australian project. The project’s method sets out what activity qualifies and how its results are measured or estimated. Start by asking what activity generated the credits on offer.

Ask for the registered method as well as the project name. A method can close to new registrations while projects already registered under it continue. For example, the human-induced regeneration method closed to new registrations on 1 October 2023. If the offer depends on a future batch from an existing project, check its crediting period, the time over which the project can earn credits, and ask when it expects to report its next results.

How do you check the project behind the credits?

Once you’ve found a project that fits, ask for its project ID. Use it to look up the registered method, location, operator and status. Then ask the seller to show how the project’s records relate to the batch on offer.

What changed because of the project?

Additionality asks whether the credited result goes beyond what would have happened without the project. Ask what the project did, how it estimated what would have happened otherwise, and how it measured or calculated the difference. An offsets report records the project’s results for a particular period. Ask for the relevant report or a summary, and for information on the audit covering that period if one was required. 

How long must the carbon stay stored?

Projects with a permanence obligation must maintain the carbon they have been credited for storing. This applies to projects such as native plantings and soil carbon. The nominated period is 25 or 100 years. Ask when the obligation began and how the project plans to manage risks such as fire or drought.

The scheme reduces the number of credits it issues to account for the risk that stored carbon is released. Projects with a shorter permanence period receive a further reduction. If you are buying future supply, ask how the seller would deliver your volume if a disturbance affects the project’s next issuance.

What supports any wider benefits?

A project may also restore habitat, support local jobs or involve First Nations organizations in managing land. Ask for evidence of the benefit that matters to your purchase. For habitat, that could mean a monitoring report that shows which species or areas the project supports. For First Nations participation, ask who is involved, how they participate and what information they have agreed can be shared.

The Clean Energy Regulator puts responsibility for checking these claims on the buyer. If a wider benefit is part of what you’re buying, identify the project and the supporting evidence in the agreement. That gives your communications team a clear basis for describing the purchase later.

Which credits are you actually buying?

The project register tells you about the project. The Unit and Certificate Registry records the units and what happens to them. For an issued batch, ask the supplier to confirm the quantity, project ID, method, issuance date and serial range. The serial range identifies the block of credits on offer.

Pay particular attention to vintage. In the registry, it means the financial year the ACCU was issued. A credit issued this year can reflect work from an earlier reporting period. If your policy specifies when the emissions were avoided or the carbon was stored, ask for the dates covered by the project’s report as well as the vintage.

Also agree what the supplier will do at delivery and what record you will receive.

• Transfer to your registry account. Match the quantity and unit details on the transfer record to what you agreed to buy.
• Safeguard surrender. Confirm who submits the request, which account will be used and what record will show that the surrender was completed for the intended facility and period.
• Voluntary cancellation. Agree who the cancellation is for and what purpose should be recorded. Request a verification certificate if you need it for your records. Cancellation permanently takes the units out of circulation.

Will the credits be available when you need them?

Issued credits already exist in the registry. Ask the seller whether it can deliver the agreed batch by your deadline. If the delivery date is tight, confirm when the transfer can start and how much time you need for any steps after it arrives.

Future delivery means the seller agrees to deliver units later. Ask whether the seller can supply the units from credits it already holds or expects to rely on new issuance. If delivery depends on a project’s next batch, ask when the project will report, how its past issuance supports the expected volume and how much time the seller has allowed for the regulator to assess the claim.

Then check what the agreement says if that batch is late or smaller than expected. A commitment to deliver a fixed quantity is different from an agreement to sell whatever the project ends up receiving. Ask who will source any replacement units, what criteria they must meet and when you’ll be told about a delay. If a deadline or a named project is essential, make that clear in the agreement.

What should you include when requesting a quote?

Give suppliers the same brief so you can compare their offers. You can keep it to a short list.

1. Use. Safeguard facility and compliance period, or the intended voluntary use and any programme requirements.
2. Quantity and timing. Number of ACCUs, latest acceptable delivery date and any instalments.
3. Credit criteria. Required project, method, location, vintage or permanence period, plus any evidence you need for wider benefits. Identify preferences separately.
4. Delivery and replacements. Whether you need issued credits or can consider future delivery, and which replacement units you would accept if supply changes.
5. Documentation and quote terms. Required unit records and registry action, plus the price, currency, fees, quote validity and payment terms you want the supplier to confirm.

Looking to buy ACCUs?

CnerG supplies ACCUs for Safeguard compliance and voluntary use. Share the intended use, expected volume, delivery window and any project requirements. We can discuss available supply and what each option would mean for delivery and documentation.

Talk to the CnerG team.